AC1PENSER RUTHENUS. 133 



ACIPENSER RUTHENUS. 



The Little Sturgeon or Sterlet. 



Spec. Char. Body elongated, brownish ; sides spotted 

 with pale red ; three rows of bony plates above ; the 

 lateral ones carinated and numerous, and those of the 

 belly fiat. 



Acipenser ex cinereo flavo et rosaceo variilfe ; Klein, Misc. Pise. iv. p. 13, n. 4, t.l. 

 Acipenser Ruthenus; Si/st. Nat. (Jmelin, i. p. 1485 ; IVulf.Ichtfi.p. 17; Block, 

 Ichlh. iii. p. 88, t. 89; Shaw, Zool. v. p. 376, 1. 100. 



Le Sterlet, Fr.; Sterlet, Ger.ct Swed.; Sewruga Sterljed, Russ. 



The Sterlet is the smallest species of Sturgeon hitherto discovered, 

 rarely exceeding three feet in length. It is principally found in 

 the Danube and other rivers which run into the Black and Caspian 

 Sea, sometimes in the Baltic, and also, it is said, in some of the 

 large lakes of Sweden and Pomerania. The head of this species is 

 longer in proportion than in other sturgeons, the snout straight and 

 subulate ; the body rather more slender, and the bony shields with 

 which the upper parts are covered less protuberant, and of a thinner 

 substance. The prevailing colour above is brownish ; whitish, and 

 marked with rose-coloured spots, beneath. The rows of tubercles 

 are of a pale yellow colour ; the skin is rough and scaly ; the ven- 

 tral and anal fins are of a deep rose-colour, the rest blueish- 

 brown . 



The Sterlet, like the rest of the genus, ascends the the rivers in 

 the northern seas, in great numbers, to deposit its spawn, in the 

 months of May and June. It is frequently taken for the sake of 

 the swimming-bladder, which affords a very fine isinglass, but prin- 

 cipally for its flesh, which is highly prized as an article of food, and 



