Ship sturgeon - Acipenser nudiventris

Ship sturgeon can reach 200 cm of length and 80 kg of weight. It has 11-17 dorsal and 49-74 lateral scutes. There are 11-17 ventral scutes, but they can also be partially or completely absent. First dorsal scute is positioned inclined compared to the head profile. Lower lip is continuous, and this distinguishes ship sturgeon from all other sturgeon species. Barbels are fimbriated, and rostrum is rounded and conical in shape.

Ship sturgeon is widely distributed throughout Aral, Caspian, Azov and Black Sea basins. Although it forms both anadromous and resident populations, only the resident type is present in the Danube River. Preferred habitat is dependant on its diet, so it dwells in shallow water above the muddy bottom.

Maximum recorded age is 36 years. Males become sexually mature at 6-9 years and females at 12-14 years of age. Spawning interval for females lasts for 2 to 3 years. Ship sturgeon spawns from the end of April to June, at the temperature of 10-15ºC. It spawns on gravelly, rocky or stone bottom, with the fast river flow.

(www.fishbase.org)

In the Danube River, its food mostly consists of larvae of Ephemeroptera, Chironomidae, Trichoptera and other insects, mollusks and crabs. In the sea, adults also eat fish.

Ship sturgeon range; green area - present, red area - extinct (www.cites.org)

There is a permanent ban established for the ship sturgeon catch (“Official Gazette of Republic Serbia“, No 36/09). It is believed that the ship sturgeon population in the Danube River is in process of the complete disappearance, since there were only sporadic and individual records of the ship sturgeon in the Danube during the last five decades.

Source: Lenhardt, M., Hegediš, A. and Jaric, I. (2005). Action plan for sturgeon species management in fishery waters of Republic Serbia. Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stankovic”, p. 21. Developed for Ministry of Science and Environmental Protection of Republic Serbia.

Internet presentation was funded by Minstry of Environmental Protection of Republic Serbia. Webdesign & maintenance: Ivan Jarić ijaric@imsi.rs