White sturgeon: they eat for a whole century to weigh almost a ton! (11 photos)

The fauna of North America is not so different from that of Siberia. The presence of a common ocean and, in the recent past, a land bridge between the continents has an effect. But on the West Coast of the USA there lives a unique pearl of local fauna, which you will not find here - the white sturgeon. A giant fish, its size can compete with a motorboat!





Oh, Americans, weaklings, our fisherman could catch this fish alone!

The white sturgeon is not just a big fish, it is a contender for the title of the largest freshwater fish on the planet. Just imagine: a sturgeon 1.5 meters long and weighing almost 50 kilograms is just a teenager making its way into adulthood. The maximum length of the fish is about 6 meters with a body weight of 800 kilograms! However, it takes about a century for a sturgeon to grow to such dimensions. Which is not so surprising if you remember that the length of a newborn fry is less than a centimeter.



A kind person massages a sturgeon's tail. It's so cute!

The life of a fry begins in the basin of one of three large American rivers: Fraser, Columbia or Sacramento-San Joaquin. The baby has to rise from the very bottom of the food chain. Literally every river predator, including insects and some spiders, is capable of eating it. While the fry does not have a single self-defense mechanism.





If a person continues to hold the fish in his hands long enough, he will have about a ton of meat!

And he can't hide either, because the sturgeon itself, although microscopic, is still a predator. Give him amphipods, isopods and other small bottom invertebrates, as well as very small fry and other fish eggs. At this stage of life, sturgeons die, without exaggeration, by the millions.



Those same childhood photos that are embarrassing.

But those that grow to 60 centimeters are relatively safe. Although they are still small by sturgeon standards, in river ecosystems they are considered medium-sized fish that you can’t just eat. Their diet changes. Now they feed almost exclusively on fish, only occasionally snacking on crayfish and bivalves. Along with the diet, the sturgeon's behavior also changes. Young fish go downstream until they reach the ocean and disappear into its endless waters.



At the beginning of their life, sturgeons grow at a rapid pace. The age (Age) of each fish is indicated in days. That is, in less than two months, a sturgeon can become 5 times larger!

The sturgeon will return in about 10 years, and it will be a real beauty. A predator more than 1.5 meters long, physically developed and unstoppable at short distances. Covered with powerful bone armor, the fish returns home, it is not afraid of anyone or anything, because it is capable of eating any predator that it was previously afraid of. The sturgeon will rise to the lake or river from which it comes to continue its lineage.



Sturgeons used to be larger. But all the animals of maximum size were caught in the past decades.



Fortunately, there are still many more or less large specimens, and it is customary to release them after a photo.

Sturgeons do not have any sexual selection or choice of partners. If you have survived to adulthood, then you are worthy of reproduction by default. Therefore, females lay eggs at the same time, and males fertilize them at the same time. In a week or two, the river nook will be filled with millions of fry, because each female has laid at least 400 thousand eggs. But by this time, adult sturgeons will have already gone back to the ocean. The cycle of life will be complete.



White sturgeon caviar is highly valued. As is the caviar of all sturgeon.

But the article does not end there. After all, at the very beginning I slightly deceived you. I said that the white sturgeon is a unique fish, but this is only partly true. After all, its sister, the beluga, lives in our country. It has the same habits, the same behavior, the same way of life. Only the beluga is desperately balancing on the brink of extinction, while the sturgeon feels relatively comfortable. Why did the lives of relatives turn out so differently?



Beluga can be distinguished from its American relatives by its long nose. Adult white sturgeons, on the contrary, have a blunter nose.

Both species were previously considered extremely important sources of food and were exterminated almost to complete destruction. But if the American authorities took control of the situation in time, then our belugas found themselves in a critical condition right by the wild nineties. At that time, the country had little time for fish, and people concerned about their own survival joined the ranks of poachers en masse.



A piece of an 18th century American postcard. Pay attention to the size of the fish, they are simply gigantic!

A complete ban on beluga fishing was introduced only in 2000, and poachers are still being fought to this day. Therefore, the number of the species remains critically low and will remain so for several decades. But this is not scary. After all, from the example of the white sturgeon, we know that it is more than possible to return the beluga to a stable position!



— Grandpa, hurry up, 3 wishes. — I want a million likes under a photo with you. — Oh, damn modernity, it will be granted!