6 FISHES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

The shovel-nosed or white sturgeon is found in the Ohio and Missis- 
sippi valleys, extending to the upper Missouri and to the Rio Grande. 
In the large tributaries of the Ohio, in western Pennsylvania, the spe- 
cies is very common. Its maximum length is eight feet, but it is not an 
important food fish, being but-little esteemed. Nothing is recorded of 
its habits except that it runs up in the smali streams in May for the 
purpose of spawning. 
Genus ACIPENSER (Artepr) Linyzvs. 
6. Acipenser sturio Linyzvs. 
The Common Sturgeon. (Figure 19.) 
The common or sharp-nosed sturgeon has a stout, roundish and elongate body, its 
height equalling one-half the length of the head and one-sixth of the total without 
the caudal. The least depth of the tail equals one-third of the greatest body depth. 
The head is long, one-third of total without the caudal, and the snout is as long as 
the rest of the head in the young. The eye is one-sixth as long as the snout. Two 
pairs of short, slender barbels midway between the mouth and tip of snout. The 
front of the mouth is nearly under the posterior edge of the pupil. The nostrils 
are double, the posterior pair more than twice as large as the anterior. The dorsal 
and anal fins are placed far back and opposite to each other. The distance of the 
ventral origin from the end of the lower caudal lobe equals the length of the head. 
The upper caudal lobe is nearly twice as long as the lower. D. 38 to 40; A. 23 to 26; 
V. 24; lateral plates 27 to 29; dorsal shields 10 to 14; ventral shields 11 and 12. 
The color of the upper parts is dark olive-gray, sometimes brownish ; the lower 
parts are light gray or whitish. The pupils are black; the iris golden. 
The common sturgeon of the eastern United States is alsc known as 
the sharp-nosed sturgeon. It has been considered identical with the 
European sturgeon, Acipenser sturio, and if this theory is correct the 
range of the species would include the Atlantic ocean southward to 
Africa and the West Indies. The northern limit on our east coast ap- 
pears to be Cape Cod. The fish has come up rarely in the Delaware 
as far as Port Jervis. Dr. Mitchill was the first to call attention to the 
similarity of the American sharp-nosed sturgeon to the stwrio of Europe. 
This fish attains to a length of twelve feet in American waters and it 
is stated that European individuals measuring eighteen feet have been 
taken. 
The sturgeon ascends the large rivers from the sea in spring and early 
summer. It is very common in the lower portion of the Delaware river, 
where it forms the object of an important fishery. This is the species 
concerning which so many stories have been related as to its leaping 
into boats and injuring the occupants. 
Vhe mouth of the sturgeon is furnished with a very protractile round- 
ish tube having powerful muscles and intended for withdrawing from 
the mud the various small shell-fish and crustaceans upon which the ani- 
mal subsists. The mouth is surrounded also with numerous tentacles, 
with tactile properties, which are utilized in procuring food. 
