Author: Brandt, 1833

Acipenser gueldenstaedti Brandt, 1833

Diagnosis: snout short, less than 60% of head, broad and rounded at tip. Lower lip not continuous, interrupted at centre; barbels not fringed, nearer to tip of snout than to mouth and not touching it. Gillrakers 16-31 (36). Dorsal finrays 27-48; anal finrays 16-35. Five rows of scutes, dorsal 7-19, lateral 24-44 on each side, ventral 6-13 on each side, with lines of smaller stellate bony plates between the dorsal and ventral rows. Colour: back olivaceous grey, flanks lighter, belly white. Size: to 211 cm, usually 110-140 cm.

Habitat: on bottom, mainly near shore, over sand and mud; usually solitary, but swarms when hibernating or during spawning migrations; less abundant than A. stellatus. Food: molluscs, crustaceans, small fishes (anchovies, sprats, gobies). Reproduction: enters rivers from April to June (a few in autumn), spawning from May to June; natural spawning not extensive, maintained chiefly by artificial propagation.

Distribution: Black Sea, Sea of Azov, entering all main rivers (Don, Kuban, Danube, Dnieper (rare), Dniester). Elsewhere, Caspian Sea.

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Antipa, 1909, fig. 109a-c | Alyavdina, 1951: 44, fig. 6, 11 | Zaryanova, 1954: 296, fig. 1-11 | Vladimirov, 1955: 24, fig. 9-12.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.

Subspecies: only A. gueldenstaedti colchicus v. Marti in Clofnam area; A. g. gueldenstaedti Brandt and A. g. persicus Borodin in Caspian, where much more abundant.

Acipenser gueldenstaedti colchicus Marti

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Antipa, 1909, fig. 109a-c | Alyavdina, 1951: 44, fig. 6, 11 | Zaryanova, 1954: 296, fig. 1-11 | Vladimirov, 1955: 24, fig. 9-12.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Osteichthyes
Order Acipenseriformes
Family Acipenseridae
Genus Acipenser
Species Acipenser gueldenstaedti

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Synonym of Acipenser gueldenstaedtii Brandt & Ratzeburg, 1833

Scientific synonyms and common names

Acipenser gueldenstaedti Brandt, 1833

Synonyms:

Acipenser güldenstädti Brandt, 1833, Med. Zool., 2: 13 ('in caspischen Meere und den in dasselbe sich ergiessenden Flüssen, auch in Schwarzen Meere'). Type: unknown.

Subspecies:

Acipenser gueldenstaedti colchicus Marti, 1940
Acipenser güldenstädti: Berg, 1911, Faune Russie, Poiss., 1: 244 (partly, full synonymy).
Acipenser güldenstädti var. colchica V. Marti, 1940, Zool. Zh., 19 (6): 869 (southeastern part of Black Sea near mouth of Rioni, Khopi, etc., rivers).
Acipenser güldenstädti var. tanaica Marti, ibid.: 863 (Azov Sea).
Acipenser güldenstädti colchicus: Berg, 1948: 83, fig. 65 Banarescu, 1964: 252, fig. 90 Svetovidov, 1964: 49, fig. 13.


Common names:

nesetra [Bu]
danube sturgeon [En]
esturion del danubio [Es]
esturgeon du danube [Fr]
chernomorsko- azovskyi osetr [R]
nisetru [Ro]
chernomorsko-azovskyi osetr [Ru]
koraca [Tu]

Banarescu, P.1964. Pisces. Osteichthyes. Fauna Repub. pop. rom., Bucuresti, 13 :1-962, 402 fig.

Berg, L. S. 1911. Poissons. Marsipobranchii, Selachii Chondrostei. Faune de la Russie et des pays limitrophes fondee principalement sur les collections du Musée Zoologique de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St.-Petersburg, 1: iii+337 p., 27 fig., 8 pl.

Berg, L. S. 1948-49. Ryby presnykh vod SSSR i sopredel'nykh stran, 4 ed., 1, Opred. pofaune SSSR, no. 27, 1948 :1-466, fig. 1-281; 2, ibid., no. 29, 1949: 467-925, fig. 282-674; 3, ibid., no. 30, 1949: 927-1382, fig. 675-946, map (in Russian).

Brandt, J. F.; Ratzeburg, J. T. C. 1833. Medizinische Zoologie oder getreue Darstellung und Beschreibung der Thiere . . ., Berlin, 2: iv+364 p.

Marti, V. J. 1940. [The taxonomy and biology of the Russian sturgeon of the Black Sea]. Zool. Zh., 19 (6): 865-872 (in Russian, with English Summary).

Marti, V. J. 1940. [The taxonomy and biology of the Russian sturgeon of the Black Sea]. Zool. Zh., 19 (6): 865-872 (in Russian, with English Summary).

Svetovidov, A. N. 1964. Rîbî Chernogo Morya. [The fishes of the Black Sea]. Opred Faune SSSR, 86 :1-552, fig. 1-191 (in Russian).

Zaryanova, E. B. 1954. Morphologitcheskaya kharacteristica osetra (Acipenser güldenstädti Brandt) i sevryugi (Acipenser stellatus Pallas) na rannikh stadyakh razvitya. Trudy saratov. Otd. Casp. fil. VNIRO, 3: 294355, fig. 1-21 (in russian).

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