STURGEON.
The air-bladder of the sturgeon is used for making isinglass, its roe for caviare.
The Sturgeons differ from the other fan-finned fishes in many particulars. To begin with, the skeleton is almost entirely cartilaginous instead of bony, whilst externally the body is either naked or covered with bony bucklers, arranged symmetrically. The snout is prolonged into a more or less shovel-shaped beak, used for turning over the mud at the bottom of the water in search of prey, and in some forms this becomes further developed into a spoon-shaped paddle, constituting one of the most remarkable appendages of fishes.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
STERLET.
A smaller species of the Sturgeon group.
Sturgeons grow to a large size, and are the largest of the fresh-water fishes of the northern hemisphere. The Giant Sturgeon of the Black and Caspian Seas and the Sea of Azoff attains a length of 24 feet, and sometimes more, specimens of 3,200 lbs. weight having been recorded.
On account of the wholesomeness of their flesh, sturgeons are highly esteemed wherever they are found. In Russian rivers they are very abundant, regular fishing-stations being established for their capture. The approach of a shoal of fish is announced by a watchman, and it is said as many as 15,000 sturgeon have been captured at one of these stations in a single day. Should the fishing be suspended for a short time, the fish assemble in such numbers as to form a solid mass, completely blocking a river 400 feet in width and 25 feet in depth.
