284 



HISTORY OF FISHES 



tants along the banks of tlie Po, the Danube, 

 and the Wolga make great profit yearly of 

 its incursions up the stream, and have their 

 nets prepared for its reception. 1 The sturgeon 

 also is brought daily to the markets of Rome 

 and Venice, and they are known to abound 

 in the Mediterranean sea. Yet those fish that 

 keep entirely either in salt or fresh water are 

 but comparatively small. When the sturgeon 

 enjoys the vicissitude of fresh and salt, water, 

 it is then that it grows to an enormous size, 

 so as almost to rival even the whale in mag- 

 nitude. 



Nor are we without frequent visits from 

 this much esteemed fish in England. It is 

 often accidentally taken in our rivers in sal- 

 mon-nets, and particularly in those parts that 

 are not far remote from the sea. The largest 

 we have heard of, caught in Great Britain, 

 was a fish taken in the Eske, where they are 

 most frequently found, which weighed four 

 hundred and sixty pounds. 1 An enormous 

 size to those who have only seen our fresh- 

 water fishes ! 



North America also furnishes the sturgeon: 

 their rivers in May, June, and July, supply 

 them in very great abundance. At that time 

 they are seen sporting in the water, and leap, 

 ing from its surface several yards into the air. 

 When they fall again on their sides, the con- 

 cussion is so violent, that the noise is heard, 

 in still weather, at some miles' distance. 



But of all places where this animal is to be 

 found, it appears no where in such numbers 

 as in the lakes of Frischehaff and Curischaff, 

 near the city of Pillau. In the rivers also 



1 Sturgeon Fishery The river Volga, especially 

 near its mouth, is the principal scene of this fishery. 

 When the fish enter the river, which they do, like many 

 others, at stated seasons, for the purpose of depositing 

 their spawn, large enclosures of strong stakes are set 

 across the river to intercept and prevent its return; the 

 enclosures narrow up the river, and the animal, getting 

 into these confined places, is easily speared. 



This fish (Accipenser sturo, or common sturgeon ; for 

 Accipenser huso, see Plate XXI. fig. 27.) of which there 

 are several species, breeds in the Caspian sea, in such 

 numbers as to fill the rivers flowing into that lake. Fif- 

 teen thousand sturgeons are sometimes taken in one day, 

 with the hook, at the station of Sallian, on the Persian 

 coast, and upwards of 700,000 were taken in the year 

 1829, iu the Russian dominions on the coasts of the 

 Caspian. 



The flesh of the sturgeon is salted and dried for con- 

 sumption during the numerous fasts enjoined by the 

 Greek church, but the two products the most valuable, 

 are isinglass and caviare, The former is prepared from 

 the air-bladder, and large quantities of it are annually 

 imported into England from St Petersburg. Caviare 

 is a preparation from the roe, of a strong, oily, but 

 agreeable flavour, and is increasing in estimation here, 

 if we may judge by the increased importation of it; a 

 great deal is also consumed iu Italy. 



8 One caught in a stake net near Findhorn, in Scot- 

 land, in July, 1833, measured eight feet six inches in 

 length, and weighed two hundred and three pounds. 



that empty themselves into the Euxine sea, 

 this fish is caught in great numbers, particu- 

 larly at the mouth of the river Don. In all 

 these places the fishermen regularly expect 

 their arrival from the sea, and have their nets 

 and salt ready prepared for their reception. 



As the sturgeon is a harmless fish, and no 

 way voracious, it is never caught by a bait 

 in the ordinary manner of fishing, but always 

 in nets. From the description given above of 

 its mouth, it is not to be supposed that the 

 sturgeon would swallow any hook capable of 

 holding so large a bulk and so strong a swim- 

 mer. In fact, it never attempts to seize any 

 of the finny tribe, but lives by rooting at the 

 bottom of the sea, where it makes insects and 

 sea- plants its whole subsistence. From this 

 quality of floundering at the bottom it has re- 

 ceived its name ; which comes from the Ger- 

 man verb floeren, signifying to wallow in the 

 mud. That it lives upon no large animals is 

 obvious to all those who cut it open, where 

 nothing is found in its stomach but a kind of 

 slimy substance, which has induced some to 

 think it lives only upon water and air. From 

 hence there is a German proverb, which is 

 applied to a man extremely temperate, when 

 they say, he is as moderate as a sturgeon. 



As the sturgeon is so temperate in its ap- 

 petites, so is it also equally timid in its nature. 

 There would be scarcely any method of taking 

 it, did not its natural desire of propagation 

 induce it to incur so great a variety of dan- 

 gers. The smallest fish is alone sufficient to 

 terrify a shoal of sturgeons ; for, being unfur- 

 nished with any weapon of defence, they are 

 obliged to trust to their swiftness and their 

 caution for security. Like all animals that 

 do not make war upon others, sturgeons live 

 in society among themselves : rather for the 

 purposes of pleasure than from any power of 

 mutual protection. Gesner even asserts, that 

 they are delighted with sounds of various 

 kinds ; and that he has seen them shoal to- 

 gether at the notes of a trumpet. 



The usual time, as was said before, for the 

 sturgeon to come up rivers to deposit its spawn, 

 is about the beginning of summer, when the 

 fishermen of all great rivers make a regular 

 preparation for its reception. At Pillau, par- 

 ticularly, the shores are formed into districts, 

 and allotted to companies of fishermen, some 

 of which are rented for about three hundred 

 pounds a-year. The nets in which the stur- 

 geon is caught are made of small cord, and 

 placed across the mouth of the river ; but in 

 such a manner that, whether the tide ebbs or 

 flows, the pouch of the net goes with the 

 stream.- The sturgeon thus caught, while in 

 the water, is one of the strongest fishes that 

 swims, and often breaks the net to pieces that 

 incloses it ; but the instant it is raised, with 



