Author: Lovetzky, 1828

Acipenser nudiventris Lovetzky, 1828

Diagnosis: snout moderately long and pointed at tip. Lower lip continuous, not interrupted at centre; barbels fringed, halfway between tip of snout and mouth, reaching the latter. Gillrakers 24-42. Dorsal finrays 45-57; anal finrays 23-37. Five rows of scutes, dorsal 11-17, lateral (49) 52-72, but usually 55-56 on each side, ventral (10)12-16, with no smaller plates between dorsal and ventral rows. Colour: back grey, flanks lighter, belly white. Size: to 200 cm or more.

Habitat: on bottom over mud, near shore at 30-60 m; solitary because rare; little studied in Black Sea. Food: mainly molluscs, also amphipods and chironomid larvae (Sea of Azov).

Reproduction: enters rivers from March to May and in October/November, spawning from end of April to June (end of May in Rioni River, Black Sea).

Distribution: Black Sea, formerly recorded off Caucasian, Crimean and Bulgarian coasts, and in Sea of Azov, entering Danube, Don, Kuban and Rioni rivers, but now in danger of extinction. Elsewhere, Caspian and Aral Seas, where it is more common.

Complementary iconography. Antipa, 1909, fig. 90a-b | Berg et al., 1949, pl. 11 (col.) Elanidze et al., 1970, fig. 3 (col.).

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Antipa, 1909, fig. 91a-b.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Osteichthyes
Order Acipenseriformes
Family Acipenseridae
Genus Acipenser
Species Acipenser nudiventris

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Acipenser nudiventris Lovetsky, 1828

Scientific synonyms and common names

Acipenser nudiventris Lovetzky, 1828

Synonyms:

Acipenser nudiventris Lovetzky, 1828, Nov. Magaz. Est. Ist., 2: 78, pl. VI (fig. 2) (Aral Sea). Type: unknown.
Acipenser shypa Eichwald, 1831, Zool. spec., 3: 66 ('Hab. in mari Caspio, unde Volga adscendit et Cyrum').
Acipenser glaber Fitzinger & Heckel, 1836, Ann. Mus. Wien, 1: 270, pl. XXV (fig. 3), pl. XXVIII (fig. 5-6) ('Schwarzes und Azowsches Meer, von welchem er in die Donau . . . und wohl auch in den Dnieper, Dniester, und Don aufsteigt').
Acipenser nudiventris: Berg, 1911, 1:175, pl. V (fig. 1-3) (full synonymy); 1948: 66 Banarescu, 1964: 202, fig. 90 Svetovidov, 1964: 47, fig. 12.

Common names:

ship [Bu]
fringebarbel sturgeon [En]
ship [R]
viza [Ro]
ship [Ru]
sip [Tu]

Banarescu, P.1964. Pisces. Osteichthyes. Fauna Repub. pop. rom., Bucuresti, 13 :1-962, 402 fig.

Berg, L. S. 1911. Poissons. Marsipobranchii, Selachii Chondrostei. Faune de la Russie et des pays limitrophes fondee principalement sur les collections du Musée Zoologique de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St.-Petersburg, 1: iii+337 p., 27 fig., 8 pl.

Eichwald, C. E. von. 1831. Zoologia specialis quam expositis animalibus tum vivis . . . adidit D. Eduardus Eichwald. Pars posterior: 404 p., 1 pl.+l pl. n. num. p. 342 [Pisces: 10-116].

Fitzinger,L.J. ;Heckel,J. 1836. Monographische Darstellung der Gattung Acipenser. Annln naturh. Mus. Wien, 1: 261-326, pl. XXV-XXX.

Lovetzky, A. 1828. 0 ribakh, prinadlzhastsh ikh k rodu osetra i zhivustshikh v vodakh Rossyiskoy imperii. Nov. Mag. Est. Ist., 2 :1422, 73-79,145-150, 6 pl. (in Russian).

Svetovidov, A. N. 1964. Rîbî Chernogo Morya. [The fishes of the Black Sea]. Opred Faune SSSR, 86 :1-552, fig. 1-191 (in Russian).

You can continue searching for Acipenser nudiventris on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

Google | Yahoo | MSN | Wikipedia