Author: Linnaeus, 1758

Acipenser sturio Linnaeus, 1758

Diagnosis: snout moderate, but less than 60% of head, tip narrow and pointed. Lower lip not continuous, interrupted at centre; barbels not fringed, halfway between snout tip and mouth but not reaching the latter; gillrakers 18-25. Dorsal finrays 31-43; pectoral fin with a strong spine; anal finrays 22-26. Five rows of scutes, dorsal 9-16, lateral 24-39 on each side, ventral 9-14 on each side, with dense cross-lines of smaller rhombic plates between the dorsal and lateral rows. Colour: back olivaceous blue with golden tints, flanks light with silvery tints, belly white. Size: to 350 cm and 280 kg, males usually 100-150 cm, females 130-215 cm.

Habitat: on bottom, near shore, at 20-50 m, being the only European species to live in fully saline water; solitary at present because rare; sea migrations of more than 1,000 km. Food: crustaceans, molluscs, polychaete worms, small fishes. Reproduction: enters rivers from March/April to June/July, spawning in May to June over stones and gravel.

Distribution: Atlantic coasts from Morocco to northern Norway, including North Sea and Baltic; also, northern coasts of Mediterranean and Black Sea; formerly abundant in all rivers suitable for spawning, but now rare, the most numerous populations being found in the Gironde, Guadalquivir and especially the Rioni rivers (Black Sea—where fishing for it is prohibited). In the north-western Atlantic is the closely related A. oxyrhynchus Mitchill.

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Ehrenbaum, 1894: 67, pl. III (fig. 23-30), pl. IIIa.
Otoliths (sagitta). Shepherd, 1914: 105; 1915: 25, fig. 7 | Frizzell & Exline, 1958: 284 | Weiler, 1959: 148, fig. 45.

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

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Acipenser sturio Linnaeus, 1758

Scientific synonyms and common names

Acipenser sturio Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms:

Acipenser Sturio Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. X: 237 ('Habitat in mari Europaeo') (Int. Comm. Zool. Nomencl. Direct. 57 Off. List spec. Names Zool. no. 1072). No type material.
Acipenser sturio: Doderlein, 1881, 2: 6 (partly) Moreau, 1881, 1: 471, fig. 81-82 Day, 1884, 2: 280, pl. CL (fig. 1-3) Smitt, 1895: 1056, fig. 285-292, pl. XXVI (fig. l) (col.). Berg, 1911: 237 (partly) Nybelin, in Andersson et al., 1942,1: 258, fig. p. 250 Lozano Rey, 1947: 7, pl. 2 (fig. 1) Poll, 1947: 123, fig. 81 (partly) Soljan, 1948: 102, fig. p. 103 Dieuzeide et al., 1959, 2: 13, fig. Magnin, 1963, 9: 4489, fig. 11-30; 1964, 91(1): 1, fig. 1-9 Banarescu, 1964: 213, fig. 93 Svetovidov, 1964: 53, 519, fig. 14 Wheeler, 1969: 119, pl. 5 Tortonese, 1970: 31, fig. 30A, 32A, 33A Bini, 1971, 2: 23, fig. (col.).

Common names:

nemska esetra [Bu]
stør [Da]
Stör [De]
sturgeon [En]
esturión [Es]
esturgeon [Fr]
jesetra [Hr]
storione [It]
steur [Ne]
stør [No]
jesiotr [Pl]
esturjão [Pr]
sampi [Su]
stör [Sv]
kolan [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.

Bini, G. 1967-72. Atlante dei pesci delle Coste italiane. Mondo Sommerso, Milano, 9 vol: I, 1967, Leptocardi, Ciclostomi, Selaci, 206 p., 66 fig+64 col. fig. II, 1971, Osteitti (Acipenseriformi, Clupeiformi, Mictofiformi, Anguilliformi), 300 p., 73 col. fig. III, 1970, Notacantiformi . . . Zeiformi, 229 p., 34 fig+63 col. fig. IV, 1968, Perciformi (Mugiloidei, Percoidei), 163 p., 34 fig+49 col. fig. V, 1968, Perciformi (Percoidei), 175 p., 22 fig.+56 col. fig. VI, 1968, Perciformi (Trichiuroidei . . . Blennioidei), 177 p., 48 fig+57 col. fig. VII,1969, Perciformi (Ofidioidei . . . Dactilopteroidei), 196 p., 57 fig.+59 col. fig. VIII,1968, Pleuronettiformi, Echeniformi, Gobioesociformi, Tetraodontiformi, Lofiformi, 164 p., 34+63 fig. IX, 1972, Introduzione. Parte generale. Aggiornamenti. Indici. 176 p.

Day, F. 1880-84. The Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland. London-Edinburgh, 2 vol., cxii+336 p., 5+7 fig., 92 pl. and 388 p., 87 pl. 1880:1(1):1-64, pl. I-XXVII; 1881: 1(2) (3): 65-240, pl. XXVIII-LXVIII; 1882: 1(4): 241-336, pl. LXIX-XCII; 2 (5) :1-96, pl. XCIII-CXVI; 1883: 2 (6): 97-176, pl. CXVII-CXXXII; 2 (7) :177-272, pl. CXXXIII-CXLVIII; 1884: 2 (8): 273-368, pl. CXLIX-CLXXIX.

Dieuzeide, R.; Novella, M.; Rolaod, J. 1959. Catalogue des Poissons des côtes algériennes. II, Ostéoptérygiens, 2e éd. revue et augmentée, 299 p.

Doderlein, P.1888. Comparsa del Cybium commersonii Lac. nelle acque del circondario marittimo di Palermo. Naturalista sicil, 7 (5) :105-109; (6) :129-133.

Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae, ed. X, vol. 1, 824 p. Nantes & Pisces: 230-338. (Reprint, 1956, London.)

Lozano y Rey, L. 1947. Peces Ganoideos y Fisostomos, Mems R. Acad. Cienc. exact. fis. nat. Madr., ser.: Cienc. Nat., 11: xv+839 p., 190 fig., 20 pl.

Magnin, E. 1963. Recherches sur la systématique et la biologie des Acipenséridés: Acipenser sturio L., Acipenser oxyrhynchus Mitchill, Acipenser fulvescens Raf., Annls Stn cent. Hydrobiol. appl., Paris, 9: 8-242, 54 fig.

Magnin, E. 1963. Recherches sur la systématique et la biologie des Acipenséridés: Acipenser sturio L., Acipenser oxyrhynchus Mitchill, Acipenser fulvescens Raf., Annls Stn cent. Hydrobiol. appl., Paris, 9: 8-242, 54 fig.

Magnin, E. 1964. Validité d'une distinction spécifique entre les deux Acipenséridés: Acipenser sturio L. d'Europe et Acipenser oxyrhynchus d'Amerique du Nord. Nat. Can., 91 (1): 1-20, 9 fig.

Magnin, E.1964. Validité d'une distinction spécifique entre les deux Acipenséridés: Acipenser sturio L. d'Europe et Acipenser oxyrhynchus d'Amerique du Nord. Nat. Can., 91 (1): 1-20, 9 fig.

Moreau, E. 1881-91. Histoire naturelle des poissons de la France, Paris, I, 1881: I-VII+ 1-480, fig. 1-82; II, 1881: 1-572, fig. 83-145; III, 1881: 1-697, fig. 146-220; Suppl., 1891: 1-144, fig. 221-227.

Nybelin, 0.1942. In: K. A. Andersson, Fiskar och Fiske i Norden, 1: xvi+540 p., num. pl.

Poll, M.1947. Poissons marins in Faune de Belgique. Bruxelles, 452 p., 267 fig., 2 pl., 2 maps n. num. (inset).

Smitt, F. A. 1893-95. (ed.) A history of Scandinavian fishes, Stockholm and Paris, Atlas, I, 1893, pl. i-xxvii.

Soljan, T. 1948. Fauna i flora jadrana. 1. Ribe Inst. Oceanogr. Ribarst. Jugoslavia. Zagreb, Hrvatske, 437 p., 1350 fig.

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

Tortonese, E. 1970e. Osteichthyes (Pesci ossei), Parte Prima. Fauna Ital., 10, Calderini, Bologna, 565 p., 198 fig.

Wheeler, A. 1969. The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe. Macmillan, London, Melbourne and Toronto: i-xvii+1-163, 5+177 fig., +392 fig. (princ. sp.)+92 n. num. fig., 16 pl., maps.

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

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

Google | Yahoo | MSN | Wikipedia