CHAPTER LIX 



THE 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 aban- 

 doned it. Had the plan been wrought out to a 

 finish, it would now be necessary to skin every 

 sturgeon with an axe. 



The mouth of a sturgeon is situated under- 

 neath the head, and is provided with long, sucker- 



sturgeons are distributed at intervals throughout 

 the northern portion of the north temperate zone, 

 across America, Europe and Asia. The American 

 species are but four in number. 



The Lake Sturgeon' is from .5 to 6 feet in aver- 

 age length, weighs from .30 to 40 pounds, and in- 

 habits the great lakes and adjacent connecting 

 waters of good depth. 



The Short-Nosed Sturgeon^ is a salt-water 

 species, found along our Atlantic and Gulf coasts, 



LAKE STURGEON. 



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 halibut, 

 and "caviar" is only the .society name of air- 

 tight sturgeon eggs. The twenty li\-ing species of 



from Cape Cod to Texas. This is a small species, 

 only about 2 feet in length, and is of no importance. 

 The Common Sturgeon'^ of our Atlantic coast 

 is the largest and most valuable member of this 

 Order in American waters. It attains a length 

 of 10 feet, and .500 pounds in weight, and to-day 

 at Wilmington, Delaware, its centre of abundance, 

 a large specimen represents about $75 worth of 

 commercial value. The most valuable part is the 



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