The largest caught on the Volga and in Russia
In 1922, in the lower reaches of the Volga, the largest beluga fish ever caught was caught. In the photographs spread across the Internet, this same marine inhabitant is visible. It weighs, according to estimates, more than a ton (which is a clear record) - 1224 kg. Since the caught specimen was female, its eggs were also weighed. There were about 150 kg of black delicacy.
Lifestyle and life cycle
It belongs to the migratory fish species: in the deep sea it is found alone for feeding purposes, while it likes to spawn in schools in fresh, shallow rivers. Finding a sufficient amount of food in the seas, it dives to different depths (depending on the depth level of the organisms). Sturgeon live a long time, on average 40 years, but can live up to 100 years.
Belugas migrating during spawning are divided into two groups. The winter fish (its bright representative lives in the Caspian Sea) swims into large rivers in flocks in the autumn, the spring fish - in the spring. By itself it is a solitary fish.
Loves unpolluted sea spaces closer to the bottom. Warmth is one of the conditions for its habitat in a certain place. In cold seasons, she, having hunted enough, swims away into the hole she finds at the bottom. Covered in a layer of mucus, it goes into hibernation. With the help of such simple actions, the beluga survives the cold.
The language barrier
Sometimes confusion arises for completely unusual reasons. For example, for a very long time the word “beluga” in Russian was also applied to the whale, today known as beluga. Whales, of course, are larger than sturgeon, but this did not prevent fantastic rumors from arising. Eyewitness accounts of the catch of two-ton belugas most likely refer specifically to marine animals. By the way, beluga whales can sing. It was their singing that formed the basis of the phraseological unit “Roar like a beluga.” Sturgeon fish, of course, cannot roar.
And in English, many sturgeon fish, including beluga, are often designated by one word - sturgeon. This also often brings confusion to the question of the largest beluga. Some of the declared contenders for the championship belong to other species of the Sturgeon family.
Description
Beluga has an impressive size and heavy weight. It can weigh up to a ton, but on average fish caught commercially reaches 200-300 kg. Very young individuals reach only 20-30 kg. They reach a length of about 4-5 meters. The massive body with a grayish-ash tint has large scales that do not overlap each other - this type is called ganoid.
According to the description, both males and females do not have any special features in their scales that distinguish them by gender. The name of this underwater inhabitant from Latin is Huso huso, which means “pig”. The closeness to this animal can be seen by the snout-like shape of the head. The snout, similar to a snout, is blunt and short, and the mouth, limited by thick lips, has a crescent shape.
Small eyes cannot convey accurate information about the surrounding world to the fish; it sees very poorly. But her sensitive sense of smell helps her in her knowledge - through the antennae hanging from her upper lip.
From the photo you can see the appearance of these representatives - the underdeveloped bony scutes on the head and the bugs on the belly and back bear little resemblance to the usual scales of marine inhabitants; they look clearly distinguishable.
Beluga fish
Beluga is an amazing long-lived fish. Many claim that she can live for more than a hundred years . And in such a long time it reaches gigantic proportions. This species is the largest species on the planet. Oddly enough, the beluga only throws the game a few times in its entire long life. In this case, the mass of caviar reaches up to half a ton.
In order to lay eggs, belugas swim far into rivers that flow into the sea, and if they do not make sure that this place is safe, then they simply do not spawn, but swim back. And the caviar dissolves on its own over time. Young fish begin to lay eggs from mid-spring until autumn. She lays her eggs in the deepest places with a rocky bottom and strong currents. The caviar itself is very large in size, like a walnut. And the number of such eggs reaches several million.
Gallery: beluga fish (25 photos)
How does she look
This species belongs to the sturgeon family . Beluga has five rows of bony scutes that are located along the body, and its head is long and elongated. The lower part of the head has four whiskers. The nose is pointed and slightly translucent. This is due to the fact that it does not have bone brushes. Her mouth is very wide, and her upper lip is thick and overhanging it. The body is quite thick and looks like a cylinder. She doesn't have a spine, but instead has cartilage. It grows up to four meters, and its weight can reach a ton.
Growth and reproduction
Males reach sexual maturity by 12-14 years, females become capable of reproduction a little later - by 18 years. In addition, females, in addition to a certain age, need to reach a weight of more than 50 kg.
The Caspian beluga reaches sexual maturity at 27 years, which is much later than other representatives.
The breeding season occurs in April and May. Individuals ready for this period swim away from the seas into deep rivers with fast currents. Optimal temperatures for reproduction are considered to be 9-17 degrees. Spawning usually begins on days with maximum water levels in the river.
The eggs are deposited on a hard (preferably rocky) bottom, where the fast current will provide a continuous supply of oxygen. The required depth for throwing it is about 10-15 meters. The eggs, which become sticky after fertilization and attach to the bottom due to new properties, come out large. And how much caviar comes out at a time! The number varies from 200 thousand to 8 million. When the fry grow from the eggs, the female swims back to the sea with them. Such migration in adult fish can occur once every 2-3 years. They can spawn intermittently during their lives, on average, about 8-9 times. Occasionally, adult fish die after spawning.
Sometimes beluga breeds with its relatives - sterlet, stellate sturgeon, thorn. As a result, hybrids are born that have some distinctive features in structure (this is noticeable in some photographs), but not in behavior.
Range yesterday and today
The fish lives in the Caspian, Azov and Black Seas. However, it swims into rivers to spawn.
The largest distribution of beluga is in the Caspian Sea; it spawns most often in the Volga River, but can also swim into the Terek, Ural, and Kura rivers. In small numbers, the fish swim to spawn in small rivers flowing into the Caspian Sea, near Azerbaijan and Iran.
Until now, beluga whales often swam several hundred kilometers or more along rivers, but now, after the construction of numerous hydroelectric power stations, their capabilities are significantly limited.
The Black Sea was quite teeming with beluga sturgeon, especially its northwestern part. Now the population has thinned out significantly for the same reasons - the construction of a hydroelectric power station (before construction, fishing could be very successful even in Kyiv and Belarus). The fish is found off the coast of the Caucasus; it also lives in the southern part of Crimea. Spawning most often occurs in the large rivers Dnieper, Dniester, and Danube.
How much caviar can be in a beluga?
The caviar of this fish is dark gray in color, with a sweetish, nutty flavor. This black caviar is considered one of the most expensive. As of 2017, 1 kg on the black market fetched about $700. Basically all caviar is sent abroad. Quite often this caviar is called the Warsaw redistribution. Since it is in Warsaw that it is sent to various European countries. The weight of the eggs in the female takes up about a quarter of her mass.
Freshwater fish
An interesting fact is that one of the Swedish restaurants serves a salad with beluga caviar, which is the most expensive in the world. It is prepared from caviar, which comes in Golden jars. One jar costs about $25,000. That is why in ancient times beluga was mainly served on tables for kings. Not everyone could afford it.
If you are fishing, then you should take care of very strong gear, because beluga is a fairly large and strong fish. Regarding time, many scientists consider it one of the most ancient. There is evidence that it lived in rivers and seas at a time when dinosaurs walked the earth. Nowadays, it is presented almost unchanged, just as huge, large, with a strange and scary appearance.
Poacher
Beluga is currently one of the largest freshwater, industrial fish. It is believed that previously only kings could afford it, because meat was very expensive, and caviar even more expensive.
Source: heaclub.ru
Beluga is a fish of the sturgeon family, included in the Red Book as an endangered species. Lives in the Black, Caspian, Adriatic and Mediterranean seas. Due to the gigantic size of individual individuals, the beluga is the largest freshwater fish. Which is probably not surprising, since this species is unusually ancient. The sturgeon dates back more than 200 million years, when very large fish and animals reigned on Earth. Just look at the Danube Beluga - a relative of dinosaurs. So, what is the weight of the largest beluga on Earth?
In 1827, a beluga weighing one and a half tons, that is, 1,500 kilograms, was caught in the lower reaches of the Volga. Just imagine, this weight is comparable to the weight of some whales.
Thus, a narwhal whale weighs about 940 kilograms, and a killer whale weighs 3,600 kilograms. That is, this fish weighed as much as half an orca and more than a narwhal! On average, a standard beluga weighs about 19 kilograms (the weight of a fish typical for the Northern Caspian).
In the past, the average weight of beluga on the Volga was about 70-80 kg, in the Danube habitat of the Black Sea region - 50-60 kg, in the Sea of Azov the fish weighed 60-80 kg. But in the Don delta, males weighed 75-90 kg, and females - as much as 166 kilograms. Even the average weight already speaks of the enormous size and heaviness of this fish. However, the average weight of most individuals in the population does not even come close to the record weight of the largest beluga. On May 11, 1922, at the mouth of the Volga, in the Caspian Sea, a beluga weighing 1224 kilograms, that is, 1.2 tons, was caught! At the same time, there were 667 kilograms on the body, 288 kilograms on the head and 146.5 kilograms on the calf.
The weight of the female during the spawning period increases many times. After all, beluga lays millions of eggs! In 1924, a female of the same weight of 1.2 tons was caught on the Biryucha Spit in the Caspian Sea. At the same time, 246 kilograms of weight were in the caviar. The total number of eggs was 7.7 million!
One female can carry up to 320 kilograms of caviar . Beluga carries them in itself until spring spawning. While waiting for him, the female spends the winter in the rivers, hibernating and becoming overgrown with mucus, like a stone. If it happens that the female does not find a suitable place for spawning, she will not spawn, and the eggs will eventually dissolve inside her.
It is not by chance that a huge amount of caviar is placed in the beluga by nature. Its task is to ensure the survival of the species. After all, beluga caviar is carried away by the current and eaten by other fish. Out of a hundred thousand eggs, only one will survive.
The records of giant belugas do not end with the above examples. On May 3, 1926, a 75-year-old female weighing more than one ton was caught at the mouth of the Urals. She carried 190 kg of caviar.
The Beluga, a stuffed animal of which is kept in the National Museum of Tatarstan, weighs about one ton. This fish was caught at the beginning of the 20th century in the lower reaches of the Volga. In the southern part of the Caspian Sea in 1836, a beluga weighing 960 kg was caught.
Over time, the record weight of the largest belugas decreased and no longer exceeded a ton. In 1970, an 800-kilogram beluga was caught on the Volga , which contained 112 kg of caviar. There, in 1989, a fish weighing 966 kg was caught. Now it is kept in the Astrakhan Museum.
Source: zooclub.ru
Commercial value and problems of conservation of the species
Beluga has always been considered a commercial fish: its skin, caviar, and tasty meat were valued. Beluga caviar, which has a delicate nutty flavor, is considered the most valuable of all types of sturgeon caviar. It is a kind of delicacy and a relatively expensive pleasure. Meat, tough unlike others, but not fatty, is a dietary ingredient for introducing proper nutrition into the diet. Easily digestible proteins, amino acids that are not synthesized in the body independently and are obtained from food, trace elements and vitamins that strengthen bones and improve the condition of skin appendages (hair, nails) make it extremely useful for consumption.
The species of these fish has become so small due to constant fishing that it was listed in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature - the beluga is recognized as an endangered species. Its fishery has practically become obsolete in natural conditions, but there are attempts to create artificial conditions for breeding. To do this, hybrids are created in artificial reservoirs by crossing sterlet and beluga - besters are obtained, which, for the purity of populations, are not released into the natural habitat. This underwater inhabitant looks like a mixture of both species.
Realizing how much beluga caviar or meat can cost, poachers stop at nothing. Illegally obtained products are punishable by law. The Azov beluga is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. The value of caviar does not leave many poachers indifferent, which complicates the task of preserving the species.
Nutritional Features
Eating in a beluga or sturgeon has specific features that differ significantly depending on the age of the individual.
This species is characterized by cannibalism, and it begins from an early age.
Being fry, they feed on plankton in rivers, eggs and fry of other small fish, which they usually find at the bottom. They are observed more often near river mouths due to shells with thinner shells than their relatives in the open ocean. From this we can conclude that the migration of these fish may be related to the location of food items. Grown-up young individuals are especially partial to the meat of young stellate sturgeon, sterlet or sturgeon. Juveniles, which in the process of development have swum from rivers to large seas, gradually change their diet: it already contains crayfish, mollusks, and small fish such as sprat or goby.
Already at the age of two, a predatory lifestyle begins, feeding on fish of various stripes. The sooner they start eating large sea creatures, the faster they grow. It is noteworthy that in winter their meals become less frequent and sparser, i.e. the diet varies depending on the season.
Beluga does not at all disdain eating its relatives; moreover, especially large representatives can eat some birds and seal pups.
Azov Beluga
The Azov beluga differs from the rest by its wide and short head , wide snout and forehead, and high body. Beluga also grows much faster in the Sea of Azov than in other basins. The main place where this fish lays eggs is the Don River. Migration occurs from March to December. Juveniles feed on fry. Larger individuals feed on gobies and crustaceans. There is even evidence that they can even eat jellyfish and ctenophores. As a result of the reduction in the number of gobies, which they mainly feed on, there was a decrease in the number of this fish.
Interesting Facts
- Parents do not like to take care of their own offspring.
- When the beluga is about to spawn, it jumps to the surface of the sea surface to a decent height. This event has not yet received a scientific explanation from ichthyologists.
- This type of sturgeon does not have bones (like sharks, in principle). The replacement, in the form of cartilage, becomes stronger and harder over the years. Part of the chord - the vizig - can even be important in cooking. If the dish is placed in the oven whole, the vizigu is pulled out so that it does not spoil the presentable appearance of the fish. It is also used in the preparation of fish pies such as kulebyak.
- The Amur River basin is home to a related freshwater species, the kaluga. If you look closely at it in the photo, it is easy to notice minor differences with the beluga - the size of the mouth and the first bug on the back (they are larger). Scientists have repeatedly tried to cross both representatives with each other, but their efforts were unsuccessful.
If the fishing of beluga and other sturgeon does not stop or is not properly regulated, these individuals will soon cease to exist. A person must understand that nature requires restoration.
