Sterlet

Where it lives

Sterlet are the most strictly freshwater of the sturgeons, inhabiting large rivers across Eurasia from the Danube east to the Yenisei. They favor strong currents, gravel and sand bottoms, and deep river holes; they generally avoid the Sea even in connected systems.

How to recognise it

A small, slender sturgeon with a long, sharply pointed snout. Like all sturgeons, it bears five rows of bony scutes. The lateral scutes are notably numerous (more than 50), distinguishing sterlet from other sturgeons. Four fringed barbels hang in front of the underslung sucking mouth.

Diet & behavior

Sterlet feed by dragging their barbels over soft substrate to detect chironomid larvae, mayfly nymphs, freshwater shrimps, and small mollusks. They are gregarious in deep wintering pools. Spawning happens in spring on river gravels in strong current.

Fisheries & Conservation

Listed as Vulnerable. Dams and pollution on the Volga, Don, and Danube have collapsed wild stocks; aquaculture now produces most farmed sterlet caviar.