The Atlantic sturgeon, a big bottom-feeding fish armoured with five rows of bony plates instead of true scales. It lives along the coast of eastern North America and swims up rivers to spawn. Once abundant, it was overfished for caviar and is now threatened in much of its range.
Quick answers
What is it?Fish
Carnivore?Yes
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Day & night
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?Yes
Fished above all for caviar made from its eggs, and for its flesh; 19th-century overharvesting caused its collapse.
At a glance
Found inRivers, Oceans, North America, Europe
HabitatCoast, Rivers & lakes
ColoursGrey, Brown
SizeHuge
LengthTypically 1.8–2.4 m; up to 4.6 m
WeightUsually under 140 kg; up to over 360 kg
LegsNone
Covered inArmour
Lives alone
Lives forUp to 60 years
Can swim
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Eastern North America, from New Brunswick in Canada to Florida, plus a reintroduced population in the Baltic Sea region of Europe.
- What it eats
- Crustaceans, worms and molluscs from the bottom.
Did you know
Its family line goes back about 200 million years, and its eggs are sold as caviar.
It sometimes leaps completely out of the water, and nobody knows exactly why.
Only 22 of its 38 original spawning rivers still have viable populations.
Often confused with
On these lists
Sources
Last reviewed
Play
Could you have guessed it?
A photo, a few hints, one guess. Same 438 animals.
