CHAPTER LXIII 

 ORDER OF STURGEONS 



GLANIOSTOMI 



A STURGEON is a big, shark-like, wedge-headed fish, 

 which looks as if Nature had once decided to cover it 

 with a bullet-proof suit of bony armor, but, after setting 

 three or four rows of plates on each side, had grown weary 

 of the task and abandoned it. Had the plan been wrought 

 out to a finish, it would now be necessary to skin every stur- 

 geon with an axe. 



The mouth of a sturgeon is situated underneath the 

 head, and is provided with long, sucker-like lips, for taking 

 food off the bottom. The principal food of sturgeons is small, 

 thin-shelled moUusks, and other fishes are not eaten save on 

 occasions so rare they are not worthy of note. 



From the coast of California to the Caspian Sea, wherever 

 they are found, sturgeons are fishes of desirability, and of 

 commercial value in direct proportion to their size. Their 

 smoked flesh is by many considered equal in flavor to hali- 

 but, and "caviare" is only the society name of air-tight stur- 

 geon eggs. The 20 living species of sturgeons are distributed 

 at intervals throughout the northern portion of the north 

 temperate zone, across America, Europe and Asia. The 

 American species are but 4 in number. 



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