282 GANOIDEI. 



Names. — Sturgeon has been derived from the German term " stor," perhaps 

 from the verb " storen," to poke or rummage about, as it constantly does with its 

 long snout : in old works it was sometimes spelt storgin or sturjoun. Ybtwrsion, 

 Welsh. De Steur, Dutch. L'E 'sturgeon, French. 



Habits. — A sluggish, wandering fish, which resides in the sea during the 

 winter months and commences ascending rivers in the spring, probably for the 

 purpose of breeding. On referring to the months when sturgeon have been 

 captured in our waters, I find records in January and in every month of the 

 year, although the most prolific would seem to be May, June, and July. In 

 British waters it sometimes ascends some considerable distance from the ocean, 

 thus one 8 ft. long and weighing 192 lb. was captured at the weir on the Severn 

 near Shrewsbury in 1802. It has also been known to ascend the Trent as high as 

 Nottingham. It lives some time after removal from its native element. Thompson 

 mentions one which lived thirty-six hours out of water, and was at last killed by 

 being packed in ice to be sent to Liverpool, 1849. Its snout is probably employed for 

 routing in the mud like swine on land. A. Schutz observes (Nature, January, 

 1874, p. 171) that a peculiar phenomenon observed, especially among the sturgeon, 

 is that of a kind of winter sleep. At the approach of the cold weather they seek 

 deep portions of the river and remain there in a state of torpor, during which time 

 they secrete a viscid mucus which forms a coating over the entire body, called by 

 the fishermen a pelisse. During this period they appear to eat nothing, their 

 stomachs being invariably found to be empty. Thompson, 1846, found in the 

 stomach of one " several specimens of minute Crustacea {Amphipoda), 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 Tellina tenuis: it' 

 likewise contained some fine sand, with which also the intestines were wholly 

 filled." Parnell found a sea mouse, Aphrodita aculeata, in the stomach of one 

 captured in the Tay. Mr. Charles, of Grosvenor Place, on July 26th, 1863, 

 presented one 3 ft. long to the Zoological Gardens, where it lived until June, 

 1870, when it measured 4 ft. 2 in. long and weighed 14 lb. 



Means of capture. — It is occasionally taken in salmon nets, and likewise in 

 stake nets, and mostly in estuaries, especially of the Severn ; while in the North 

 Sea some are captured by trawlers. It may be captured by baits, and when 

 hooked does not resist to any great extent. Parnell says no instance has been 

 recorded of their being fonnd on lines, or of their taking a bait of any description, 

 although small fishes and worms seem to be their principal food. In British 

 Columbia Dr. Ford mentions how they take a bait. One 9 in. long, from the 

 eye to the tip of the tail, was taken in June, 1880, in the Thames angling with a 

 worm, and has been preserved. (Field, April 9th, 1881.) 



Fisheries. — Those of the British Isles are not important. According to M. 

 Danilovsky the value of the sturgeons annually taken in European Russia is in 

 round numbers 8,000,000 roubles (a rouble 3/2) worth: — Isinglass, 600,000; 

 dried spinal, 100,000 ; caviare, 2,250,000 ; preserved or sun-dried, 5,000,000. 

 "While Grimm observes that' they " have not decreased perceptibly in quantity 

 (numbers P) but they have decreased in size, in consequence of which the same 

 weight of fish continues to yield smaller and smaller quantities of useful 

 products." (Fishing and Hunting in Russian Waters, p. 31.) The Ural River 

 produces the best sturgeon. One-third of the length of the Ural River, from the 

 Caspian Sea, belongs to the Cossacks, who barricade it at the further extremity 

 in order to enclose the fish in the water belonging to them. In October the fish 

 lie up for the winter, selecting deep places, where they congregate in large 

 numbers. All along the river, officials (Cossacks), specially appointed, look out 

 for these places (in Russian called yetoff). When the river is covered with ice, 

 which is usually the case about the middle of December, the Cossacks are 

 summoned to begin to capture the fish, who assemble in thousands at the 

 furthest place where they lie. They are armed with harpoons, cords, pikes, 

 and pointed iron bars. At a gun signal all the men rush to the "yetoff," each 

 one making a hole in the ice with the iron bars, plunging in the harpoons, 

 and waiting until they feel the fish touch the harpoon, when they jerk it up 



