Sturgeons in middel europe

After the actual state of sciences (Ludwig et al.2002) there were two sturgeon species present in middle-europe - the  common sturgeon (A. sturio) and the atlantic sturgeon (A. oxyrinchus). The common sturgeon was spread from the Black Sea, over the mediterranean to France up to the german rivers rhine, weser, eider, stoer to England and in the baltic sea also in iceland and norway. About 1500 years ago the atlantic sturgeon became the predominant species in the baltic sea. Then from about 1000 years ago until the extinction there was only the atlantic sturgeon found in the baltic sea - last catch 1938. Basis for this knowledge are the results  of genetic analysises of  excavation findings of boneplates out of foodrests of historical settlements and also confirmations of museum pieces. The stocks of the common sturgeon declined in the rest of europe - last catch in the north sea in 1930 - from then on only single catches.  

Description: Along the elongated body the sturgeons have five rows of boneplates, the so-called exoskeleton. One row on the rear of each side and each two on the dorsal side. The tail fin is shark-like shaped. In front of the mouth there are four barbels that are used as taste-organs while feeding.  

Features : Actual there is tried to bring up a stock of adult spawners with international cooperation. Basis for the common sturgeon is the rest-wildpopulation in the french gironde-basin. The stock of atlantic sturgeons  is supported by wild stocks of the north american eastcoast. Involved in this project are  the society to save the sturgeon, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), the Leibniz-institute for hydrology and Inlandfisheries (IGB), the federal ministry of education and research and the association fish and environment in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Further Information : The booklet of the new Brehmlibrary "Der Stoer" - (the sturgeon) from Mrs.Dr. Erna Mohr (1952) is one of the standardworks to the topic. A recent booklet: "Der Stör" - fish of the year 2001 from the VSDF.

On the internetpages of the Gesellschaft zur Rettung des Störes (the society to save the sturgeon) there are actual informations about the efforts of sturgeon reintroduction.

Another good information resource are the internetpages of the  the association fish and environment in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.