CHAPTER VIII. 



MISCELLANEOUS FISHES. 



THE STURGEON, 

 Acipenser (Mitchill). 



VERY boy living along the banks of our Western 

 rivers that is old enough to handle a pole cut from 

 the woods knows more about the sturgeon than he 

 does of the State that he lives in. Of this leaping 

 and diving fish there are several kinds that take the hook, 

 and are an object of sport. The round-nose sturgeon, Aci- 

 penser sturio, is found in the Hudson River, and is taken as 

 far up as Albany, often being seen leaping his whole length 

 from the water. " He has a roundish and elongated snout, 

 with four cirrhi. There are five rows of scales, making the 

 body a sort of pentagon. Body elongated, mailed above by 

 scaly tubercles. Two lateral fins. Dorsal fin behind the 

 scales near the tail composed of thirty-ei^ht rays. Anal fin 

 nearer the tail than the dorsal. Caudal, anal, and lateral 

 and pectoral fins often reddish. Tail unequally forked, and 

 the larger division slanting upward. Mouth beneath the 

 head ovate, toothless, retractile." 



Sharp-nosed Sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrhynchus}. " Having a 

 pentagonal form, with scabrous asperities between the scales 

 and a sharp snout. Has the same general form, but in many 

 respects different. The scales themselves are bony, rough, 



