Sakhalin sturgeon | |
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A Russian coin depicting a Sakhalin sturgeon | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Acipenseriformes |
Family: | Acipenseridae |
Genus: | Acipenser |
Species: | A. mikadoi |
Binomial name | |
Acipenser mikadoi Hilgendorf, 1892 | |
The Sakhalin sturgeon or Mikado sturgeon (Acipenser mikadoi) is a species of fish in the family Acipenseridae. It is found in Japan and Russia.
The Sakhalin sturgeon is known to be found in either a marine or freshwater environment within demersal depth range. This species is found in brackish waters. They are also native to a tropical climate. [3]
The Sakhalin sturgeon has reached the maximum recorded length of about 150 centimeters or about 59 inches as a tall fish. [3]
The Sakhalin sturgeon is considered to be a species that migrates up the river from the sea in order to spawn. During the months of April to May, the Sakhalin sturgeon feeds in the freshwater and then returns to the ocean during the summer. [3] [4] The Sakhalin sturgeon (Acipenser mikadoi), which lives in the Amur River basin in China and Russia, and the green sturgeon (A. medirostris), which lives along the Pacific coast of North America, are two different species of sturgeon. Despite their geographical isolation, these two species may have had a recent common ancestor due to the similarities in their mitochondrial genomes. [5]
The Sakhalin sturgeon is recorded to be the colors of olive-green and dark green. Its sides have a yellowish white color and it includes an olive green stripe. The bottom lip of this species is split into two. [6]
The Sakhalin sturgeon is commonly found in the areas of Northwest Pacific, Bering Sea, Tumnin or Datta river, northern Japan, and Korea. [3] This species currently spawns persistently in the Tumnin River. [1]
The threats that are affecting the population of the Sakhalin sturgeon include illegal poaching, trawling, accidental bycatch, pollution, and construction of dams. [7]
Currently, the species' population is significantly decreasing and is on the brink of extinction. [8]
The common names of the Sakhalin sturgeon in various languages include the following:
According to recent genetic data, [11] the differences between the mitogenomes of the Sakhalin sturgeon (Acipenser mikadoi) and the Green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) to correspond to the variability at the intraspecific level. The time since the divergence of the Sakhalin sturgeon and the Green sturgeon may be approximately 160,000 years.[ citation needed ]
Sturgeon is the common name for the 28 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous, and are descended from other, earlier acipenseriform fish, which date back to the Early Jurassic period, some 174 to 201 million years ago. They are one of two living families of the Acipenseriformes alongside paddlefish (Polyodontidae). The family is grouped into four genera: Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus, and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. Two species may be extinct in the wild, and one may be entirely extinct. Sturgeons are native to subtropical, temperate and sub-Arctic rivers, lakes and coastlines of Eurasia and North America. A Maastrichtian-age fossil found in Morocco shows that they also once lived in Africa.
Acipenseriformes is an order of basal ray-finned fishes that includes living and fossil sturgeons and paddlefishes (Acipenseroidei), as well as the extinct families Chondrosteidae and Peipiaosteidae. They are the second earliest diverging group of living ray-finned fish after the bichirs. Despite being early diverging, they are highly derived, having only weakly ossified skeletons that are mostly made of cartilage, and in modern representatives highly modified skulls.
The Chinese paddlefish, also known as the Chinese swordfish, is an extinct species of fish that was formerly native to the Yangtze and Yellow River basins in China. With records of specimens over three metres and possibly 7 m (23 ft) in length, it was one of the largest species of freshwater fish. It was the only species in the genus Psephurus and one of two recent species of paddlefish (Polyodontidae), the other being the American paddlefish. It was an anadromous species, meaning that it spent part of its adult life at sea, while migrating upriver to spawn.
The kaluga, also known as the river beluga, is a large predatory sturgeon found in the Amur River basin from Russia to China and near Hokkaido in Japan. With a maximum size of at least 1,000 kg (2,205 lb) and 5.6 m (18 ft), the kaluga is one of the biggest of the sturgeon family. Like the slightly larger beluga, it spends part of its life in salt water. Unlike the beluga, this fish has 5 major rows of dermal scutes and feeds on salmon and other fish in the Amur with its nail like teeth in its jaws. They have gray-green to black backs with a yellowish green-white underbelly.
Acipenser is a genus of sturgeons. With 17 living species, it is the largest genus in the order Acipenseriformes. The genus is paraphyletic, containing all sturgeons that do not belong to Huso, Scaphirhynchus, or Pseudoscaphirhynchus, with many species more closely related to the other three genera than they are to other species of Acipenser. They are native to freshwater and estuarine systems of Eurasia and North America, and most species are threatened. Several species also known to enter near-shore marine environments in the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans.
White sturgeon is a species of sturgeon in the family Acipenseridae of the order Acipenseriformes. They are an anadromous (migratory) fish species ranging in the Eastern Pacific; from the Gulf of Alaska to Monterey, California. However, some are landlocked in the Columbia River Drainage, Montana, and Lake Shasta in California, with reported sightings in northern Baja California, Mexico.
The Atlantic sturgeon is a member of the family Acipenseridae, and, along with other sturgeon, it is sometimes considered a living fossil. The Atlantic sturgeon is one of two subspecies of A. oxyrinchus, the other being the Gulf sturgeon. The main range of the Atlantic sturgeon is in eastern North America, extending from New Brunswick, Canada, to the eastern coast of Florida, United States. A disjunct population occurs in the Baltic region of Europe. The Atlantic sturgeon was in great abundance when the first European settlers came to North America, but has since declined due to overfishing, water pollution, and habitat impediments such as dams. It is considered threatened, endangered, and even locally extinct in many of its original habitats. The fish can reach 60 years of age, 15 ft (4.6 m) in length and over 800 lb (360 kg) in weight.
The shovelnose sturgeon is the smallest species of freshwater sturgeon native to North America. It is often called hackleback, sand sturgeon, or switchtail. Switchtail refers to the long filament found on the upper lobe of the caudal fin. Shovelnose sturgeon are the most abundant sturgeon found in the Missouri River and Mississippi River systems, and were formerly a commercially fished sturgeon in the United States of America. In 2010, they were listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act due to their resemblance to the endangered pallid sturgeon, with which shovelnose sturgeon are sympatric.
The sterlet is a relatively small species of sturgeon from Eurasia native to large rivers that flow into the Black Sea, Azov Sea, and Caspian Sea, as well as rivers in Siberia as far east as Yenisei. Populations migrating between fresh and salt water (anadromous) have been extirpated. It is also known as the sterlet sturgeon.
The starry sturgeon, also known as the stellate sturgeon or sevruga, is a species of sturgeon. It is native to the Black, Azov, Caspian and Aegean sea basins, but it has been extirpated from the last and it is predicted that the remaining natural population will follow soon due to overfishing.
The green sturgeon is a species of sturgeon native to the northern Pacific Ocean, from China and Russia to Canada and the United States.
The Persian sturgeon is a species of fish in the family Acipenseridae. It is found in the Caspian Sea and to a lesser extent the Black Sea and ascends certain rivers to spawn, mainly the Volga, Kura, Araks and Ural Rivers. It is heavily fished for its flesh and its roe and is limited in its up-river migrations by damming of the rivers. Young fish feed on small invertebrates, graduating to larger prey such as crabs and fish as they grow. The threats faced by this fish include excessive fishing with the removal of immature fish before they have bred, damming of the rivers, loss of spawning areas and water pollution. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed the fish as critically endangered and has suggested that the increased provision of hatcheries could be of benefit.
The Siberian sturgeon is a species of sturgeon in the family Acipenseridae. It is most present in all of the major Siberian river basins that drain northward into the Kara, Laptev and East Siberian Seas, including the Ob, Yenisei Lena, and Kolyma Rivers. It was also found in Kazakhstan and China in the Irtysh River, a major tributary of the Ob, though wild populations are extirpated in China. The species epithet honors the German Russian biologist Karl Ernst von Baer.
The Russian sturgeon, also known as the diamond sturgeon or Danube sturgeon, is a species of fish in the family Acipenseridae. It is found in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine. It is also found in the Caspian Sea. This fish can grow up to about 235 cm (93 in) and weigh 115 kg (254 lb). Russian sturgeon mature and reproduce slowly, making them highly vulnerable to fishing. It is distinguished from other Acipenser species by its short snout with a rounded tip as well as its lower lip which is interrupted at its center.
The Adriatic sturgeon is a species of fish in the family Acipenseridae. It is native to the Adriatic Sea and large rivers which flow in it of Albania, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia. Specimens can be seen in several public aquarium, such the Milan Aquarium, Aquarium Finisterrae, Aquarium of the Po, and Oasis of Sant'Alessio in Lombardy.
The bastard sturgeon, also known as the fringebarbel sturgeon, ship sturgeon, spiny sturgeon, or thorn sturgeon, is a species of fish in the family Acipenseridae. These fish are typically found along the benthos of shallower waters near shorelines or estuaries.
The dwarf sturgeon, little shovelnose sturgeon, or small Amu-Darya shovelnose sturgeon is a species of fish in the family Acipenseridae. It is found in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and probably in Tajikistan.
The Amu Darya sturgeon or false shovelnose sturgeon is a critically endangered species of fish in the family Acipenseridae. It is found in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and perhaps Afghanistan. It inhabits quite shallow flowing waters that are turbid and muddy.
Huso is a genus of large sturgeons from Eurasia. It contains two species, both of which are critically endangered:
The Japanese sturgeon or Amur sturgeon is a species of fish in the family Acipenseridae found in the Amur River basin in China and Russia. Claims of its presence in the Sea of Japan need confirmation. The species has 11–16 dorsal, 34–47 lateral, and 7–16 ventral scutes. Their dorsal fins have 38–53 rays and 20–35 anal fin rays. They also have greyish-brown backs and pale ventral sides. The species can reach up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) in length, and weigh over 190 kilograms (420 lb). The species is considered to be critically endangered.