Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Fisheries and for a world without hunger Aquaculture Department

Species Fact Sheets baerii (Brandt, 1869)

Acipenser baerii: (click for more)

Synonyms Acipenser baerii baerii Brandt, 1869:115. Acipenser baerii baicalensis Nikolskii, 1896:401. Acipenser baerii Berg, 1911:273 (in part). Acipenser ruthenus (non Linnaeus) Berg, 1911:273 (in part). Acipenser baeri stenorrhynchus Men'shikov, 1947:371. Acipenser baeri chatys Drjagin, 1948:532 .

FAO Names En - Siberian , Fr - Esturgeon de Sibérie, Sp - Esturión de . 3Alpha Code: APB Taxonomic Code: 1170100112

Scientific Name with Original Description Acipenser baerii Brandt, 1869; Mélanges Biol. vol. 7:115. and river systems, Siberia, Russia.

Diagnostic Features Spiracle present. Snout and caudal peduncle subconical. Gill membranes joined to isthmus. Mouth transverse and lower lip with a split in the middle. The barbels are either smooth or slightly fimbriate. The length of the snout is highly variable (33.3-61 % head length). 20-49 gill rakers fan-like, each terminated by several tubercles. D:30-56. A:17-33 fin rays. 10-12 dorsal scutes; 32-62 lateral scutes; 7-16 (20) ventral scutes. The scutes of young specimens are sharply tipped, but no in adult ones. Numerous small bony plates are scattered between the rows of scutes. There is a great variability in the colouration: from light grey to a dark brown on back and sides, and from white to yellowish on the underside.

Geographical Distribution

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Main Siberian rivers from the Ob to Kolyma, in , and rarely in the Pechora (Reshetnikov et al., 1997).

Habitat and Biology During the day, they remain in places where the rive bed is deep and sometimes, congregate at the bottom of lakes. In Lake Baikal these fishes remain at a depth of 20-50 m, but they may descent at 100-150 m.The Siberian sturgeon is a semianadromous or freshwater species, most numerous in the middle and downstream sections of the rivers. They enter brackish water and travel into the bays of the Arctic Ocean.There are two forms of this species in the Siberian River basins: one semi-migratory that remains in estuaries or river deltas for feeding, and the other form, more or less resident in one locality and considerably less numerous than the migrating one.In Siberian waters it feeds mainly on benthic organisms, predominantly chironomid larvae, amphipods, isopods and polychaetes; large quantities of detritus and sediment that sometimes constitute more than 90 % of the stomach contents, are also ingested. This species does not cease feeding during the spawning migration or during the period of actual spawning. It feeds also beneath the ice during the wintering. Males first mature at an age no earlier than 17 or 18 years. First maturity in females is reached not earlier than at an age of 19-20 years. In the Lena River, males first attaining sexual maturity at 9-10 years old and females at an age of 11-12 years. The females do not again until after a period of at least three to five years, while the males can ripen again after two to three years. The migratory form undertake a upstream migration to spawn. The migration is interrupted by hibernation in depressions in the river bed. Males reach the spawning grounds earlier than the females. The spawning period ranges from the end of May to mid-June at a water temperature from 9 to 18º C. Spawn occurs in the main channel of rivers over stony- gravel or gravelly-sand bottoms. The spawning of the resident form of this species are not far from the depressions in which they wintering.

Size The maximum size is 2 m in total length and 210 kg, but usually the do not exceed 65 kg. In the Lena and Kolyma Rivers, they are significantly smaller, normally not exceed 16 kg (Sokolov & Vasilev, 1989).

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Interest to Fisheries Highly commercial. It is one of the most valuable fishes in Siberia. Main catch always came from the Ob River system. At the present time, the populations are subject to overfishing in Lake Baikal and Yenisei River. This species appears to be a valuable candidate for introduction into new regions and for aquaculture (Sokolov & Vasilev, 1989).

Global Aquaculture Production for species (tonnes) Source: FAO FishStat 600

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Acipenser baerii

Local Names FINLAND : Siperiansampi . FRANCE : Esturgeon sibérien . GERMANY : Sibirischer Stör . NORWAY : Sibirsk stør . POLAND : Jesiotr syberyjski . ROMANIA : Sturion de Siberia . RUSSIAN FED. : Sibirskii osëtr . SPAIN : Esturión de Siberia . SWEDEN : Sibirisk stör . UNITED KINGDOM : Siberian sturgeon . USA : Siberian sturgeon .

Remarks According to Ruban (1997), at present the Siberian sturgeon consist of three subespecies: the nominal A. baerii baerii Brandt, 1869 from the Ob river basin, A. baerii baicalensis Nikolskii, 1896 from the Lake Baikal basin, and A. baerii stenorrhynchus Nikolskii, 1896 from other Siberian waters. This author consider that the initial spelling of this species, A. baerii, should be preserved. Birstein & Bemis (1997), accept the three subespecies of A. baeriiproposed by Ruban (1997).

Source of Information

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Sokolov, L.I. & V.P. Vasilev. - 1989. Acipenser baeri Brandt, 1869. In J. Holcíck (ed.) The freshwater fishes of Europe, Vol. I, Part. II: General introduction to fishes, . . 262-284. Aula-Verlag.

Related links Check this species at FishBase

Bibliography Berg, L.S. - 1962. Freshwater fishes of the U.S.S.R. and adjacent countries.Volume 1.Israel Program for Scientific Translations Ltd, Jerusalem. . 4th edition. (Russian version published 1948). Birstein, V.B. & W.E. Bemis. - 1997. How many species are there within the genus Acipenser? Environ. Biol. Fish. . 48: 157-163. Birstein, V.J. - 1993. and : threatened fishes in need of conservation. 7:773- 787.Conserv. Biol. . Birstein, V.J., Bemis, W.E. & J.R. Waldman. - 1997. The threatened status of acipenseriform species: a summary. Environm. Biol. Fish. . 48:427-435. Reshetnikov, Y.S., N.G. Bogutskaya, E.D. Vasil'eva, E.A. Dorofeeva, A.M. Naseka, O.A. Popova, K.A. Savvaitova, V.G. Sideleva & L.I. Sokolov. - 1997. An annotated check-list of the freshwater fishes of Russia. J. Ichthyol. . 37(9): 687-736. Ruban, G.I. - 1997. Species structure, contemporary distribution and status of the Siberian sturgeon, Acipenser baerii. Environ. Biol. Fish. . 48: 221-230. Sokolov, L.I. & V.P. Vasilev. - 1989. Acipenser baeri Brandt, 1869. In J. Holcíck (ed.) The freshwater fishes of Europe, Vol. I, Part. II: General introduction to fishes, Acipenseriformes. . 262-284. Aula-Verlag. Vasilev, V.P. - 1980. Chromosome numbers in fish-like and fish. J. Ichthyol. . 20(3):1-38.. Williot, P. & T. Roualt. - 1982. Compte rendu d'une première reproduction en France de l'esturgeon sibérien Acipenser baeri. Bull. Fr. Piscicult. . 54(286): 255-261.

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