Environment: milieu / climate zone / rango de profundidad / distribution range
Ecología
marino; agua dulce; salobre pelagic-neritic; anadromo (Ref. 51243); rango de profundidad 70 - 180 m. Temperate; 10°C - 20°C (Ref. 2059); 57°N - 35°N, 13°E - 60°E
Eurasia: Caspian, Black, Azov and Adriatic Sea basins.
Extirpated from Adriatic Sea.
Length at first maturity / Tamaño / Peso / Age
Madurez: Lm ?, range 200 - ? cm
Max length : 800 cm TL macho / no sexado; (Ref. 59043); common length : 215 cm TL macho / no sexado; (Ref. 3397); peso máximo publicado: 3.2 t (Ref. 59043); edad máxima reportada: 118 años (Ref. 47437)
Espinas dorsales (total) : 0; Radios blandos dorsales (total) : 62 - 73; Espinas anales: 0; Radios blandos anales: 28 - 41. Snout moderate and pointed, turning slightly upward. Lower lip not continuous, interrupted at center. Barbels oval or flat, leaf-like posteriorly, reaching almost to mouth. Five rows of scutes, dorsal 11-14 (first one smallest), lateral 41-52 on each side, ventral 9-11 on each side. Back ash-grey or greenish, flanks lighter, belly white.
Body shape (shape guide): elongated; Cross section: circular.
Pelagic at the sea, following its prey. Undertakes upriver migration to spawn. Juveniles occur in shallow riverine habitats during their first summer. Spawns in the main course of large and deep rivers with strong current and on stone or gravel bottom (Ref. 59043). Feeds mostly on sea fishes (Black Sea whiting, anchovies, flatfishes, gobies, fry of bottom-living fishes), also crustaceans, mollusks, mysids and amphipods. Fisheries are based almost entirely on the value of the caviar, but meat also is sold fresh, smoked and frozen; eaten broiled, boiled, fried and baked (Ref. 9988). Bester, a hybrid of female Huso huso and male sterlet Acipenser ruthenus, has been successfully cultivated for its high quality eggs (Ref. 9988). The largest sturgeon and largest European freshwater fish. In Guinness Book of Records as the most expensive fish (Ref. 6472). Threatened due to overfishing for meat at the sea and for caviar in estuaries. These threats will soon cause global extinction of the natural populations. Survival can only depend on stocking (Ref. 59043).
Enters rivers from March, usually April and May (also in autumn). Survives largely by artificial propagation. About 360,000-7,700,000 eggs per female. Females carry eggs only once every five to seven years (Ref. 9988).
Kottelat, M. and J. Freyhof, 2007. Handbook of European freshwater fishes. Publications Kottelat, Cornol and Freyhof, Berlin. 646 pp. (Ref. 59043)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-1)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Pesquerías: comercial; Acuicultura: comercial
Herramientas
Special reports
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Fuentes de Internet
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Referencia
123201): 7.7 - 15.6, mean 9.1 °C (based on 19 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Referencia
82804): PD
50 = 0.7500 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00427 (0.00257 - 0.00707), b=3.12 (2.98 - 3.26), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref.
93245).
Nivel trófico (Referencia
69278): 4.4 ±0.3 se; based on diet studies.
Resiliencia (Referencia
120179): Muy bajo, población duplicada en un tiempo mínimo superior a 14 años (K=0.1; tm=13-22; tmax=118; Fec=360,000).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Very high vulnerability (89 of 100).
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Climate Vulnerability (Ref.
125649): Very high vulnerability (79 of 100).
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Nutrients (Ref.
124155): Calcium = 6 [3, 12] mg/100g; Iron = 0.234 [0.128, 0.408] mg/100g; Protein = 17.9 [15.5, 20.5] %; Omega3 = 0.34 [0.15, 0.73] g/100g; Selenium = 27.1 [11.7, 60.4] μg/100g; VitaminA = 5.85 [1.52, 24.89] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.331 [0.221, 0.505] mg/100g (wet weight); based on
nutrient studies.
