We have already protected nearly 4 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea life - but there is still more to be done. Kaluga Sturgeon hatch in shallow gravel beds in the freshwater estuaries of the Amur River. [5] The prey is sucked into the mouth opening extremely quickly the jaws and extending forward the lips. Sign our petition to tell GrubHub to take shark fin off the menu now – before the ocean’s most iconic predators disappear. The Amur River is one of the largest rivers in East Asia and lies between the borders of China and Russia. Vadim Birstein, John Waldman, and William Bemis. Combined with their extremely large size, the look of the beluga sturgeon can be quite intimidating, but this species is harmless and actively avoids people. Troshin, Alexei. [17] Additional food items may include molluscs and crustaceans, even aquatic birds and young seals (Caspian seals, Pusa caspica)[15]. Caviar is the table name for fish eggs, and beluga sturgeon produce millions of eggs. Large individuals have been known to carry several hundred pounds of caviar, and beluga sturgeon caviar can be worth as much as US$3500/pound (US$8000/kilo). "Descriptions and Articles about the River Beluga (Huso Dauricus)". Females are only able to breed every four years. Endangered Species Act.[22]. After World War II, in 1948, 61 metric tons of Kaluga was caught, an unbelievable number for a species of their size (Krikhtin et al. Web. [6], Like most sturgeons, the beluga is anadromous, migrating upstream in rivers to spawn on clean, hard substrate, which offers both support and cover to their sticky/adhesive eggs. [15] [6] In estuaries and rivers of the same area, migrating spawners eat various cyprinids, mainly Cyprinus carpio and Rutilus rutilus, Sander lucioperca and, among sturgeons, Acipenser ruthenus is the main prey. [13] Spawning biology and development of larval stages of sturgeons - the most ancient fish of the Danube - co-evolved with the formation of the Danube valley, resulting in very different survival strategies of their early life stages.

A great way to get involved in protecting #oceans: Join Oceana as a Wavemaker & sound off on important issues! Unlike the beluga, this fish has 5 major rows of dermal scutes, nail-like teeth in its jaws, and feeds on salmon and other fish in the Amur. The beluga sturgeon is, unfortunately, cursed with producing some of the most desirable caviar in the world. The kaluga (Huso dauricus) is a large predatory sturgeon found in the Amur River basin. Oceana joined forces with Sailors for the Sea, an ocean conservation organization dedicated to educating and engaging the world’s boating community. In other words, it is very highly vulnerable to extinction across its entire range.

[6]. "CITES." Encyclopedia of Life. To begin with, they are being severely overfished.
Pirogovskii, M.I., L.I. Today, mature belugas that are caught are generally 142–328 cm (4 ft 8 in–10 ft 9 in) long and weigh 19–264 kg (42–582 lb). Web. The beluga sturgeon is, unfortunately, cursed with producing some of the most desirable caviar in the world. :: NOAA Fisheries. The generation length of the species is not less than 20 years. The kaluga has been hunted to near extinction for its valuable roe. 23 Oct. 2014. The beluga also rivals the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) and the greenland shark (somniosus microcephalus) for the title of largest actively predatory fish.[9][10]. It is a protected species listed in appendix III of the Bern Convention, and its trade is restricted under CITES appendix II. While swimming back to the ocean, the young sturgeons may cover up to 60 km (37 mi) a day. Web. N.p., n.d. There are a few reasons as to why exactly this species is declining. 2006). N.p., n.d. One group of Kalugas spawn in the main stem of the river, while others spawn downstream and work their way to the middle of the river.

N.p., n.d. They have gray-green to black backs with a yellowish green-white underbelly. Wiley Online Library. Their spawning season begins in May and ends in July. The sturgeons are a very old group of fishes (over 200 million years old) and make up one of the most primitive lineages of bony fishes. Sailors for the Sea developed the KELP (Kids Environmental Lesson Plans) program to create the next generation of ocean stewards. When preparing to spawn upriver, the beluga sturgeon is easy to capture, by harpoon or in nets. IUCN classifies the beluga as critically endangered. Migration plays a big role in Kaluga's early life. (Huso Dauricus). Lateral scutes are smaller than the dorsal and ventral scutes. Adult Kaluga Sturgeon have enormous appetites. Sturgeon Caviar output, including the Kaluga, from 1957 to 2005, averaged about 117 tons per year. Females spawn a year earlier during warm years than they would during cold years. The beluga sturgeon is one of the only species of sturgeons that actively eats other fishes and is one of the largest predatory fishes on Earth. 24 Oct. 2014. "Status and Conservation of Sturgeons in Amur River, China: A Review Based on Surveys since the Year 2000." 23 Oct. 2014. Water velocity in the stream has a great effect on the migration of the free embryos, meaning that the greater the force of the stream of water is the more likely the embryo migrates. The dorsal fin has 48 to 81 soft rays, the anal fin, much shorter, has 22 to 41 soft rays. Web. The rostrum is conical and contains numerous sensory pits on both ventral and dorsal surfaces. The animals are being hunted down for their unfertilized eggs because sturgeon roe is considered a delicacy to people all across the world (Yang et al. Web. This market cuts down on the Kaluga population and only hastens the process of their extinction. "Huso Dauricus." Vasil’ev. Web. The mouth takes up the entire lower surface of the snout, it is lateral, crescent-shaped, and extremely large. The snout of the Kaluga Sturgeon is short and sharply pointed. They remain in the egg from 83 to 295 hours and hatch with a yolk sac that feeds them for up to 8 or 9 days. The Kaluga Sturgeon spawns in lower reaches of the Amur River in strong-current habitats in the mainstream of the river on gravel or sandy-gravel bottom at water temperatures of 70 °F (12-20 °C) in depths of 6–10 feet (2–3 m). Kaluga Sturgeon (Huso Dauricus) - Office of Protected Resources - NOAA Fisheries. [5] Heavily fished for the female's valuable roe, known as beluga caviar, wild populations have been greatly reduced by overfishing and poaching. This page was last edited on 16 August 2020, at 16:03. Other common names are morun (Ro), moruna (Bu), viza (Hu), vyza velka (Cz), vyza (Slov), storione ladano or storione attilo (It), grand esturgeon (F), Hausen (G).

N.p., n.d. Despite constant anti-poaching patrols, poachers still continue to catch the fish. Beluga caviar has long been scarce and expensive and its endangered status has made its caviar even more expensive throughout the world. "Kaluga Sturgeon (Huso Dauricus) - Office of Protected Resources - NOAA Fisheries." Kalugas are one of the four species of sturgeons to exist in the Amur River. Fishing for kaluga anywhere in the Amur River is an offense punishable by law. "Endemic Sturgeons of the Amur River: Kaluga, Huso Dauricus, and Amur Sturgeon, Acipenser Schrenckii - Springer." Sokolov & V.P. In both sexes, they will go to spawn every 4 to 7 years. juveniles are slender, head is quite narrow with a mouth ventrally placed but projecting upward, snout is thin and pointed (almost 1/2 of the head), scutes are evident, back and flancs are dark grey or black, and belly is white; Adult are heavy-set, spindle-shaped but large individuals are humpbacked, head is massive with a very large protractil mouth which gradually moves in an almost frontal position during the growth, snout is quite short (1/3 to 1/4 of the head), scutes gradually undergo absorption and decrease in number with age, colouring is blue gray or dark brown with silver or gray flancs and white belly, dark dorsum contrasts strongly against the rest of the body; Very old specimens are stocky, with an impressive head and an enormous mouth. 23 Oct. 2014. The migration of the Kaluga is considered a passive migration because the embryos have no control over where the river flow takes them. On average their sexual maturity lasts from 6 to 25 years of age. [14] The same situation concerns nursery sites the young sturgeons depend on during their journey to the Black Sea, Males attain sexual maturity at 12–16 years of age, whereas females do so at 16–22 years. After that, the Kaluga Sturgeon are forced to hunt. In the early life of a Kaluga, the offspring prefer to live in a clear habitat setting. 23 Oct. 2014. N.p., n.d. The inner two barbels are more anterior than the outer ones, but they are similar in length. Spawning periodicity is 4–5 years in females and 3–4 years in males. Wang, Yamin, and Jianbo Chang.

Kaluga sturgeon have declined sharply since the 1800s. Official catch records dropped from: This indicates a greater than 80% decline in catches over 90 years. That value may be the beluga sturgeon’s doom. Huso huso is a pelagic predator which local distribution is not influenced by the nature of the substrates, unlike most of the sturgeons which show demersal attitude. 1997). Water temperature affects the onset of maturity of females. Le cheptel de ce lac est composé d'environ 200 esturgeons, 130 carpes koïs, 100 amours blancs et 500 carpes. Its air bladder is said to make the best isinglass.[21]. Going on maximum size, it is the third most massive living species of bony fish. The barbels are laterally compressed with foliate appendages, arranged in two pairs, originating midway or closer to the mouth than the tip of the snout.[6]. To help this the Beluga sturgeon swim up river to fresh water where there are much less predators and then lay their eggs, this  lowers the risk greatly of death and … (2007). Beluga caviar is considered a delicacy worldwide. Adult Kaluga Sturgeons travel in small groups of between 3 and 20 individuals to the shallow gravel beds to spawn. Reaching lengths of 24 feet (7 m) and weights of more than 3500 pounds (1500 kilos), the beluga sturgeon is the largest sturgeon and one of the largest bony fishes in the world. The female beluga is typically 20% larger than the male. Juveniles feed on benthic invertebrates in rivers and shallow coastal waters, where they grow quickly, then, at the length of 8–10 cm, they become largely piscivorous. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has banned imports of beluga caviar and other beluga products from the Caspian Sea since 6 October 2005, after listing beluga sturgeon under the U.S. They prefer the point of the river where there is an illuminated white bottom and open space for them to swim way above the bottom of the river. Kaluga spends at least part of its life in salt water and returns to rivers to breed. 23 Oct. 2014. as the most massive fish, the second longest fish after the giant oarfish (Regalecus glesne), as well as the largest freshwater fish in the world. However, when grown the Kaluga constantly migrates back and forth between upstream and downstream. "Kaluga." Adult beluga sturgeon have few natural predators, but fishing pressure by people has been very high. Beluga of such great sizes are very old (continuing to grow throughout life) and have become increasingly rare in recent decades due to the heavy fishing of this species. 24 Oct. 2014. Their dinosaur-like bodies match their prehistoric lineage. They reach the sea with the help of the current and remain there until they are ready to breed, between the ages of 10 and 14. Ed. Different diets have been observed throughout the distribution range of Beluga sturgeon, as well as according to the stage of migration of the spawners, anyway it mainly consists for adults in a great diversity of large fish (73% of the diet).
[9] Among sturgeons, only the closely related Kaluga (Huso dauricus) can attain similar size, with a maximum weight of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb).