THE STURGEON. 24o 



11. CARTILAGINEI. 



ORDER VI.— ELEUTHEROPOMI. 



The Sturgeon, Acqtenser Sturio, Linn., (?) 



— Thompsonii, Ball, M. S. , 

 Is taken occasionally in the large rivers from North to South. 



The existence of sturgeons in Ireland has been mentioned by Sampson 

 (Derry), Tighe (Kilkenny), Rutty (Dublin), Smith (Cork), and by Tem- 

 pleton in his Catalogue : they probably occur as frequently now as at any 

 former period. 



March ith, 1839. — I saw one about 6 feet long in Belfast market, 

 brought from Coleraine, where it was captured in the salmon nets. I 

 should think it not less than SO lbs. weight. Another was taken here two 

 years ago ; this fish is pointed on the snout, which is narrower than the 

 mouth, and consequently diff'ers from Parnell's Acipcnser latirostris : the 

 keel of the scales is at the same time depressed, as he figures that of his 

 A. latirostris. 



June 11th, 1846. — I purchased to-day in Belfast market a small speci- 

 men, which was taken in the sea last night at Donaghadee in a net with 

 sea trout {S. truttu) ; it is being preserved for the Belfast Museum. 



I looked critically to the food contained in its stomach and intestines, 

 more especially as I always considered it improbable that fishes could, as 

 stated, form the food of a species having a mouth like the sturgeon's. 

 The stomach contained several specimens of minute Crustacea [Amphi- 

 2}oda), the remains of a shrimp-like species, fragments of ,Porphyra, which 

 probably had been growing on the sandy bottom of the sea, and a perfect 

 minute Te/liiui tenuis ; it likewise contained some fine sand, with which 

 also the intestines were wholly filled. 



It is 4 feet 4^ inches in /etif/th. 



Fin-rays, in all the fins, much the same number as given by Jenyns, but 

 all leather exceeding his. No specific difference in the numbers. 



Osseous head-plates diff"erent in form from any of the four figures of 

 native sturgeons of which Dr. 11. Ball made drawings. These four all 

 differ from each other in the form of these plates, and also in th.efori)i of 

 the head, as looked down upon. The form of the bony plates in my spe- 

 cimen resembles more in form those of A. latirostris, Parnell, than any of 

 the others, but the snout of my specimen is decidedly sharp-pointed. 



Judging from all drawings which I have seen of the bony plates of the 

 head of sturgeons, and finding them so variable, I have long felt certain 

 that their precise form is of no value as a specific character ; the f'oi-m, too, 

 of the anterior extremity of the fish is liable to much variation, from being 

 pointed to rounded. 



On 20th December, 1849, a sturgeon was taken at Belfast, close to the 

 County Down Railway Station, where it was stranded when the tide 

 ebbed. It was of the ordinary sharp-nosed kind, and about 4;V feet long. 

 I subsequently learned that this fish lived 36 hours out of water, and was 

 at last killed by being packed in ice to be sent to Liverpool. 



April 29f/i, 1 8 jl. — Thomas Fortescue, Esq., of Ravensdale Park (the pre- 

 sent Lord Clermont), informs me that in the river at Clermont Park, near 

 that place, and belonging to him, a sturgeon is taken almost every year : 



