534 FISHEg, 



SECTION XVII. 



Sturgeon, 

 Acipenser. Linn. 



There are five or six species belonging to this genus, all of which 

 afford excellent food. The three following, however, are the 

 chief. 



1. Common Sturgeon. 



Acipenser sturio. Linn. 



This is a fish of very great size, growing to the length of eighteen 

 or twenty feet ; it is an inhabitant of the Northern, European, and 

 American seas, migrating, during the early summer months, into the 

 larger rivers and lakes, and returning to the sea again in autumn, 

 after having deposited its spawn. Its form is long and slender ; 

 the body pentagonal, gradually tapering towards the tail, and co- 

 vered throughout the whole length by five rows of strong, large, 

 bony tubercles, rounded at the base, radiated from the centre, and 

 terminated above, by a sharp curved point, in a reversed direction; 

 of these five rows of tubercles, one is situated on the top of the 

 back, and two on each side the body, the lowermost forming the 

 edges of the abdomen, vvuieh is flat ; the whole skin also, except 

 on the belly, is roughened by very small tubercles of similar struc- 

 ture ; the head is rather large, sloping on each side, and covered 

 with bony plates ; the snout long and slender, obtuse at the tip, and 

 furnished beneath, at some distance from the end, with four long, 

 worm-shaped beards or cirrhi ; the mouth is placed immediately 

 beneath the upper part of the head, and consists of a transverse 

 oval orifice, totally destitute of teeth, but containing a thick 

 and strong tongue, and is bounded above and below by a 

 strong, cartilaginous edge or lip, which it has the power of re- 

 tracting or closing at pleasure; the gill-cover, on each side, 

 consists of an oval, radiated plate ; the pectoral fins are oval, and 

 middle-sized ; the dorsal small, and situated near the tail ; the ven- 

 tral and anal fins are also small, and placed nearly opposite the dor- 

 sal ; the tail is lobed or slightly forked, the upper lobe being 

 strengthened above by a bony ridge or carina, and extending far 

 beyond the lower : the general colour is cinerous above, with 



