Beluga (Great) Sturgeon (Huso huso)

(Included for information. Only suitable for specialist keeping.)

by Terry White

Comments: This is the largest growing sturgeon species, a true monster fish, one of the largest fish found in freshwater in the modern day. It has been known to grow to 10m (33ft) long and weigh up to 2000kg. Living over 100 years these huge fish are now very rare as most of the big specimens have been caught and killed for the world famous beluga caviar and their natural spawning sites are now out of reach to them as dams and gravel extraction has blocked the rivers and destroyed the spawning grounds. Industrial pollution has also played its part in making this fish endangered on the World Conservation Union's red list of threatened species. These days a fish of 500kg is considered very big, making news pages around the world. The average size in the wild is now under 60kg.

The Beluga is now extensively farmed to produce caviar and to try and replenish the dwindling natural populations. As a result of this farming some young beluga sturgeon can occasionally be found for sale but I must stress this is very rare and getting permission to import them into the UK is almost impossible. If you can find one it is probably a male as the farms, for obvious reasons, tend to grow on the females for caviar production but only keep a few males as breeding stock.

Growth rates of farmed fish are phenomenal, the fastest of the sturgeon species. A two year old can be over 1m long (3ft+) and a four year old closer to 2m long (6ft+) and 35-40kg (75-100lbs) where as a wild fish may take more than ten years to reach 2 meters.

If you want to keep this fish in a garden pond you would need a lot of money and luck to find one and a pond of at least 15,000 gallons (68,000 litres). Add to that a huge food bill as these fish need a lot of feeding if they are to leave your other fish alone (a 2 meter beluga could easily eat a koi of 18 inches). Adult size of a pond-kept specimen is 2.4-3m (8-10ft) and it could weigh in at around 100kg (220lbs).

Description: The Beluga Sturgeon has 9-17 dorsal scutes, 37-53 lateral scutes, 7-14 ventral scutes, 48-81 dorsal fin rays and 22-41 anal fin rays. Skin colour is a metallic steely blue to grey-black with a slightly lighter ventral and white to cream bony scutes down the back. Not exactly what you would call a pretty fish, it certainly has a presence and stature about it that leaves a lasting impression on anyone who sees them up close.

Huso huso wild distribution map

Wild Distribution: Found in Asia and Europe; the Caspian Sea, Black Sea and Sea of Azov including many of their tributaries. Once also found in the Adriatic Sea and its tributary the Po River, but now thought to be extinct in this region. Like most sturgeon it is andronomous, spending some of the year at sea wintering at depths of up to 100 meters and spending summer in the warmer food rich coastal shallows. They may also be found in middle and upper river areas when migrating and spawning.

Vulnerability: The Beluga Sturgeon is listed as 'Endangered' on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Baku Bay, Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan.

Biology: Males mature at 10-16 years and females at 14-20 years. Like most sturgeon species the same female fish will not spawn each year, only once every several years. Females can produce 6,000-7,000 eggs per kg of body weight.

Spawning migrations happen mostly in the spring and autumn, the autumn migrations over winter near the spawning ground and spawn the next spring. The fish move up the rivers through deep channels, males reaching the spawning grounds before the females and spawning tends to take place between April and June when the water temperature is between 9 - 17°C. Spawning beds are rocky or gravely with a flow rate of 1-2 meters per second.

The eggs are 3.5-4.5mm in size and develop to hatch in 200 hours at 12.5°C. The fry are 11-14mm long at time of hatching and will feed off the egg sack for 10-14 days and are 18-20mm long before beginning to feed normally. The fry will drift down river feeding as they go, spending the summer in the warm coastal water.

Natural feeding: A true predatory species; it will eat invertebrates, molluscs, amphibians and crustaceans but mostly fish. Other food groups include waterfowl, seabirds and aquatic mammals. It lives by one rule: If it fits in its mouth it can eat it and they have very large mouths. They can have cannibalistic tendencies especially when young it will eat anything they can catch.

Orchard Fisheries Sturgeon / Sterlet Food Pellets for sale. Buy online or order by phone.

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