Ship Sturgeon (Acipenser nudiventris)

Bastard sturgeon (Acipenser nudiventris) photo by Zaur Abbaszade

The bastard sturgeon, fringebarbel sturgeon, ship sturgeon, spiny sturgeon, or thorn sturgeon (Acipenser nudiventris) is a species of fish in the Acipenseridae family.

Formerly abundant in the Black, Aral and Caspian seas, its range is now primarily limited to the Ural River (in Russia and Kazakhstan), with a possible relict populations in the Rioni River in Georgia and the Safid Rud in Iran.

The healthiest population is one in Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan, well outside its natural range, where they were introduced in the 1960s for commercial purposes.

It has been reported that this fish has the highest relative fecundity for any sturgeon species.

Bastard sturgeon (Acipenser nudiventris) head

Scientific classification

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Subphylum: Vertebrata
• Superclass: Osteichthyes
• Class: Actinopterygii
• Subclass: Chondrostei
• Order: Acipenseriformes
• Suborder: Acipenseroidei
• Family: Acipenseridae
• Subfamily: Acipenserinae
• Genus: Acipenser
• Species: Acipenser nudiventris Lovetsky, 1828

Synonyms

• Acipenser glaber Fitzinger, 1836
• Acipenser nudivenris Lovetsky, 1828 (misspelling)
• Acipenser nudiventris derjavini Borzenko, 1950
• Acipenser schypa Güldenstädt, 1772
• Acipenser turritus Brusina, 1902

Links: Encyclopedia of Life | FAO Species Fact Sheet | Fishbase | ITIS | Pond Life | World Register of Marine Species

Common Names: Bastard Sturgeon, Fringebarbel Sturgeon, Ship Sturgeon, Spiny Sturgeon, Thorn Sturgeon

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All text in this article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Bastard sturgeon".