FISHES AS FOOD 



277 



Those of most note include Sturgeons, Skates and Rays, and 

 Lampreys. 



THE STURGEON FAMILY (ACIPENSERID^). This belongs to an 

 ancient group of Fishes (Ganoidei), closely related to the ordinary 

 bony type. There are about twenty species of Sturgeon, all in- 

 habiting the temperate part of the Northern Hemisphere. Like 

 Salmon, they ascend rivers to spawn, and also in some cases for 

 wintering, and some of them are altogether confined to the waters 

 of the land. The Common Sturgeon (Acipenser sturio, fig. 1 204) 

 belongs to the British fauna, for it enters some of our rivers, as 



Fig. 1204. Common Sturgeon (Acipenser stnrid] 



the Severn and Thames, and, being the property of the Crown, is 

 known as a " royal " fish. Though perhaps 6 feet may be taken 

 as the length of an average adult, a much larger size up to about 

 1 2 feet may be attained. The species is found on both sides of 

 the Atlantic, on the one side entering the rivers of the Eastern 

 United States, and on the other those of West Europe and the 

 Mediterranean. It is absent from the Black Sea. The much 

 smaller but more esteemed Sterlet (A. ruthenus) is native to the 

 rivers that debouch into the Black and Caspian Seas, and also 

 inhabits the Siberian rivers. It does not, as a rule, descend into 

 salt water. The Giant Sturgeon or Hausen (A. kwo) y on the 

 other hand, is much larger than the common species, but some- 

 what coarse. It lives in the Black Sea, Sea of Azov, Caspian, 

 and the corresponding river basins. Giildenstadt's Sturgeon (A. 

 Guldenstadti} ascends the rivers of the Black Sea. 



So far as Europe is concerned, the sturgeon-fishery is of most 



VOL. IV. 



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