Sturgeonbiodiversity and conservation Developments in environmental biology of fishes 17 Series Editor EUGENE K. BALON Sturgeon biodiversity and conservation Editors: VADIM J. BIRSTEIN, JOHN R. WALDMAN & WILLIAM E. BEMIS Reprinted from Environmental biology of fishes, Volume 48 (1–4), 1997 with addition ofspecies and subject index KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS NEW YORK / BOSTON / DORDRECHT / LONDON / MOSCOW eBook ISBN: 0-306-46854-9 Print ISBN: 0-792-34517-7 ©2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers New York, Boston, Dordrecht, London, Moscow Print ©1997 Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers New York All rights reserved No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without written consent from the Publisher Created in the United States of America Visit Kluwer Online at: http://kluweronline.com and Kluwer's eBookstore at: http://ebooks.kluweronline.com Contents Prelude to sturgeon biodiversity and conservation by E.K.Balon 9-11 Sturgeon biodiversity and conservation: an introduction by W.E. Bemis, V.J. Birstein &J.R. Waldman 13-14 Leo Semenovich Berg and the biology of Acipenseriformes: a dedication by V.J. Birstein & W.E. Bemis 15-22 Part 1: Diversity and evolution of sturgeonsand paddlefishes An overview of Acipenseriformes by W.E. Bemis, E.K. Findeis & L. Grande 25-71 Osteology and phylogenetic interrelationships of sturgeons (Acipenseridae) by E.K. Findeis 73-126 Phylogeny of the Acipenseriformes: cytogenetic and molecular approaches by V.J. Birstein, R. Hanner & R. DeSalle 127-155 How many species are there within the genus Acipenser? by V.J. Birstein & W.E. Bemis 157-163 Part 2: Biology and status reports on sturgeonsand paddlefishes Sturgeon rivers: an introduction to acipenseriform biogeography and life history by W.E. Bemis &B. Kynard 167-183 Past and current status of sturgeons^ in the upper and middle Danube River by K. Hensel &J. Holcik 185-200 Endangered migratory sturgeons of the lower Danube River and its delta by N. Bacalbasa-Dobrovici 20 1 -207 Present status of commercial stocks of sturgeons in the Caspian Sea basin by R.P. Khodorevskaya, G.F. Dovgopol, O.L. Zhuravleva & A.D. Vlasenko 209-219 Species structure, contemporary distribution and status ofthe Siberian sturgeon, Acipenser baerii by G.I. Ruban 221-230 Endemic sturgeons ofthe Amur River: kaluga, Huso dauricus, and Amur sturgeon, Acipenser schrenckii by M.L. Krykhtin & V.G. Svirskii 231-239 Biology, fisheries, and conservation of sturgeons and paddlefish in China by Q. Wei, F. Ke, J. Zhang, P. Zhuang, J. Luo, R. Zhou & W. Yang 241-255 Biology and life history of Dabry’s sturgeon, Acipenser dabryanus, in the Yangtze River by P. Zhuang, F. Ke, Q. Wei, X. He & Y. Cen 257-264 Observations on the reproductive cycle of cultured white sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus by S.I. Doroshov, G.P. Moberg & J.P. Van Eenennaam 265-278 Contemporary status of the North American paddlefish, Polyodon spathula by K. Graham 279-289 Life history and status of the shovelnose sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus platorynchus by K.D. Keenlyne 291-298 The status and distribution of lake sturgeon, Acipenserfulvescens, in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec: a genetic perspective by M.M. Ferguson & G.A. Duckworth 299—309 6 Lake sturgeon management in the Menominee River, a Wisconsin-Michigan boundary water by T.F. Thuemler 311-317 Life history, latitudinal patterns, and status of the shortnose sturgeon, Acipenser brevirostrum by B. Kynard 319-334 Status and management of Atlantic sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrinchus, in North America by T.I.J. Smith & J.P. Clugston 335-346 Atlantic and shortnose sturgeons of the Hudson River: common and divergent life history attributes by M.B. Bain 347-358 Biological characteristics of the European Atlantic sturgeon, Acipenser sturio, as the basis for a restoration program in France by P. Williot, E. Rochard, G. Castelnaud, T. Rouault, R. Brun, M. Lepage & P. Elie 359-370 Part 3: Controversies, conservation and summary Sturgeons and the Aral Sea ecological catastrophe by I. Zholdasova 373-380 Threatened fishes of the world Pseudoscaphirhynchus spp. (Acipenseridae) by V.J. Birstein 381-383 Molecular analysis in the conservation of sturgeons and paddlefish by I.I. Wirgin, J.E. Stabile & J.R. Waldman 385-398 Sensitivity of North American sturgeons and paddlefish to fishing mortality by J. Boreman 399-405 Alternatives for the protection and restoration of sturgeons and their habitat byR.C.P.Beamesderfer & R.A.Farr 407-417 Threatened fishesof theworld: Scaphirhynchus suttkusiWilliams & Clemmer, 1991, (Acipenseridae) byR.L. Mayden & B.R. Kuhajda 418-419 Threatened fishesof the world: Scaphirhynchus albus (Forbes & Richardson,1905) (Acipenseridae) byR.L. Mayden & B.R. Kuhajda 420-421 Sturgeon poaching and black market caviar: a case study by A. Cohen 423-426 The threatened status of acipenseriform fishes: a summary by V.J. Birstein, W.E. Bemis & J.R. Waldman 427-435 Species and subject index, byAlice G. Klingener 437-444 This volume is dedicated to the memory of Leo Semenovich Berg Logo design by William E. Bemis inspired by the holarctic distribution of sturgeons and paddlefishes Numae is Anishnabe for sturgeon, a painting by the Chippewas of Nawash artist Adrian Nadjiwon of Cape Croker, Lake Huron: “In the painting I wanted to depict the balance that one existed between my ancestors and the sturgeon (the sturgeonbeing symbolic of all the fish species that the Old People subsistedon) with the fishing line symbolising a spiritual link and balancing point between the man and the sturgeon” (1992). Portraits of three juvenile sturgeons which originated from the Black Sea stock bred at the Propa-Gen International Aquaculture Produc- tion R & D and Trading, Komadi, Hungary: the top photograph shows a 71 cm armored form of the Russian sturgeon, Acipenser guelden- staedtii: the middle photograph shows a 77 cm naked form of A. gueldenstaedtii (note its smooth skin and absence of scutes): and the bottom photograph is of a 54 cm A. persicus Photographs by Paul Vecei. May 1996. Environmental Biology of Fishes 48: 9-12, 1997. © 1997 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Prelude to sturgeon biodiversity and conservation Soaring Eagle, you have angered Great Sturgeon, and he has taken your son because you took too many fish from the lake. Joe McLellan (1993) in‘Nanabosho, Soaring Eagle and the Great Sturgeon’, Pammican Publications, Winnipeg. It gave me great pleasure to help with the publication of this volume. The elusive beasts it deals with sustained my enthusi- asm in the early days of work on the Danube River. Already then, 40 years ago. sturgeons were so rare1 in the middle 2.3 Danube (Figure 1), that I had to shift my attention to the wild carp which have followed since many of the sturgeons into oblivion. ^ Figure 1. Specimen of Acipenser gueldenstaedtii 35 cm long caught on 30.7.1967 in the Danube River near Radvan (river km 1749). Original drawing by Miriam Baradlai1. Often I was standing on the shore, where about 100 years ago,the Viennese court had their military fire cannon balls at giant beluga, Huso huso, and other sturgeon species ascending the river to spawn4. I was dreaming of arresting the present destruction5.6 and of rebuilding the past (Figure 2). I envied Marsilius7 who was able to witness here the processing of caviar (Figure 3) which I was privileged to spoon up in Russia only 30 years, no, 270 years later, and became addicted to. ∨ ^ 1 Balon, E.K. 1968. Další nález mlade Acipenser güldenstaedti colchicus Marti, 1940 v ceskoslovenskom úseku Dunaja (A further discov- ery of a juvenile Russian sturgeon in the Czechoslovak part of the Danube). Ac. Rer. Natur. Mus. Nat. Slov. (Bratislava) 14: 95-100. 2 Balon. E.K. 1974. Domestication of the carp Cyprinus carpio L. Royal Ontario Mus. Life Sci. Misc. Publ., Toronto. 37 pp. 3 Balon. E.K. 1995. The common carp, Cyprinus carpio: its wild origin, domestication in aquaculture, and selection as colored nishikigoi. Guelph Ichthyology Reviews 3: 1-55. 4 Hensel, K. & J. Holcik.∨ 1997. Past and current status of sturgeons in the upper and middle Danube River. Env. Biol. Fish. 48 (this volume). ∨ 5 Balon, E.K. 1967. Vývoj ichtyofauny Dunaja, jej súcasný stav a pokus o prognózuó d’alšich zmien po výstavbe vodných diel (Evolution of the Danube ichthyofauna. its recent state and an attempt to predict further changes after the construction of the planned hydro-electric power stations and diversion schemes). Biologické práce 13: 1-121 + 24 plates. 6 Balon, E.K. 1968. Einfluß des Fischfangs auf die Fischgemeinschaften der Donau. Arch. Hydrobiol. (Suppl. Donauforschung 3) 34: 228–249. 7 Marsilius. A.F.C. 1726. Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus, observationibus geographicis, astronomicis, hydrographicis, historicis, physicis perlustratus et in sex Tomos digestus. Hagae Comitum, Amstelodami. 10 I like this volume for other reasons too. Sturgeons and paddlefishes seem to exist, like most modern fishes, in altricial and precocial forms. Becoming aware of this may ins pire future workers to pay closer attention to these life h evolutionary phenomena8. By doing so, the general usefulness of the theory of saltatory ontogeny9 and of dichotomous processes in both development and evolution10 may become more widely accepted. Figure 2. Reconstruction of amethod tocatch beluga on the Danubeaccording to description in Aelianus byRohan-Csermak (1963) from Balon (1967)5. The Guest Editors of this volume agreed in advance on the order listed on the title page, although equal editorial effort should be recognized. Vadim Birstein, Robert Boyle and John Waldman convened the 1994 conference that was the source for the original drafts of most of the manuscripts included in this collection. William Bemis put the volume in final shape; he is also responsible for safeguarding the standards ofall contributions as the editorial representative of Environmental Biology of Fishes.