fbpx
Wikipedia

Kaluga (fish)

January 01, 1970

The kaluga (Huso dauricus), also known as the river beluga, is a large predatory sturgeon found in the Amur River basin. With a maximum size of at least 1,000 kg (2,205 lb) and 5.6 m (18.6 ft), the kaluga is one of the biggest of the sturgeon family. Like the slightly larger beluga, it spends part of its life in salt water. Unlike the beluga, this fish has 5 major rows of dermal scutes and feeds on salmon and other fish in the Amur. They have gray-green to black backs with a yellowish green-white underbelly.

Kaluga
A kaluga in an Asamushi Aquarium
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Acipenseriformes
Family: Acipenseridae
Genus: Huso
Species:
H. dauricus
Binomial name
Huso dauricus
(Georgi 1775)
Synonyms[3][4]
  • Acipenser dauricus Georgi 1775
  • Acipenser mantschuricus Basilewsky 1855
  • Acipenser orientalis Pallas 1814
  • Huso orientalis (Pallas 1814)
  • Ichthyocolla daurica (Georgi 1775)
  • Acipenser kaluschka Steller 1814

The kaluga has been hunted to near extinction for its valuable roe. Despite constant anti-poaching patrols, poachers still continue to catch the fish. In Russia, illegally fishing for kaluga anywhere in the Amur River is a felony punishable by law. However, kalugas are known to have an aggressive nature, and instances of them toppling fishing boats and drowning fishermen have been reported, although no concrete evidence exists of them assaulting or hunting people.

Description edit

 
A 3.7 m (12 ft)-long, 500 kg (1,100 lb), 70 year old Kaluga fish which stored around 4 million eggs
 
The Amur river, an important habitat for the Kaluga sturgeon.

The kaluga sturgeon is a massive fish, also known as the “river beluga”. It has a triangular head with several bony plates. Its body is an elongated fusiform body with five rows of bony scutes: dorsal with 10-16 beetles (the first is largest), two laterals (32-46 scutes), and two ventral (8-12 scutes) between rows of small bony scutes grains and rarely more large plate. Lateral scutes are smaller than the dorsal and ventral scutes. The mouth takes up the entire lower surface of the snout, it is lateral, crescent-shaped, and extremely large. Parts of the mouth can move to the side of the head. Under the snout and in front of the mouth there is a transverse row of four flattened laterally barbels. The inner two barbels are more anterior than the outer ones, but they are similar in length. The snout of the kaluga sturgeon is short and sharply pointed. It has very small eyes, located immediately behind its nostrils.

Habitat edit

Kaluga sturgeon are semi-anadromous, spending some of its life in salt water but most of its life in freshwater.[5] Kalugas are one of the four species of sturgeons to exist in the Amur River. The Amur River is one of the largest rivers in East Asia and lies between the borders of China and Russia. There are two populations of Kaluga that exist in this river. One group of Kalugas spawn in the main stem of the river, while others spawn downstream and work their way to the middle of the river. In the early life of a Kaluga, the offspring prefer to live in a clear habitat setting. They prefer the point of the river where there is an illuminated white bottom and open space for them to swim way above the bottom of the river. The Kaluga also prefers to avoid any cover from the river. Observations suggest that the Kaluga embryos might do this to avoid predators near the bottom of the river. The Kaluga sturgeon are currently endangered now because of human interaction. However, environmental factors such as warm water temperatures pose risk for fungus over free embryos and could be a cause of death also. The migration intensity of Kaluga is also a big factor in the life of a Kaluga. Water velocity in the stream has a great effect on the migration of the free embryos, meaning that the greater the force of the stream of water is the more likely the embryo migrates. Migration plays a big role in Kaluga's early life. The migration of baby Kaluga is considered a passive migration because the embryos have no control over where the river flow takes them. However, when grown the Kaluga constantly migrates back and forth between upstream and downstream. The generation length of the species is not less than 20 years, comparable to humans.

Life cycle edit

Kaluga Sturgeon hatch in shallow gravel beds in the freshwater estuaries of the Amur River. Their parents play no role in their lives. They remain in the egg from 83 to 295 hours and hatch with a yolk sac that feeds them for up to 8 or 9 days. After that, the Kaluga Sturgeon are forced to hunt. They hunt for tiny zooplankton, insects, and shrimp. They reach the sea with the help of the current and remain there until they are ready to breed, between the ages of 10 and 14.

Kaluga spends at least part of its life in salt water and returns to rivers to breed. The Kaluga Sturgeon spawns in lower reaches of the Amur River in strong-current habitats in the mainstream of the river on gravel or sandy-gravel bottom at water temperatures of 70 °F (12-20 °C) in depths of 6–10 feet (2–3 m). Spawning peaks from the end of May to July. Adults spawn many times during their life cycle. Spawning periodicity is 4–5 years in females and 3–4 years in males. Water temperature affects the onset of maturity of females. Females spawn a year earlier during warm years than they would during cold years. Females are only able to breed every four years. Their spawning season begins in May and ends in July. Adult Kaluga Sturgeons travel in small groups of between 3 and 20 individuals to the shallow gravel beds to spawn. Sometimes if the Kaluga Sturgeon is too large it may die from getting stuck in the shallow water. The Kaluga Sturgeon can hybridize with the Amur sturgeon.

Diet edit

 
Feeding behavior

Adult Kaluga Sturgeon have enormous appetites. They eat pike, carp, herring, chum salmon, keta, and most other fish or shellfish that can fit into their mouths. A Kaluga Sturgeon can live up to 55 years.

Conservation edit

There are a few reasons as to why exactly this species is declining. To begin with, they are being severely overfished. Ever since the 1900s, they have been poached at an alarming rate. After World War II, in 1948, 61 metric tons of Kaluga was caught, an unbelievable number for a species of their size (Krikhtin et al. 1997). They are extremely vulnerable to extinction by poaching because they have late sexual maturity, which only occurs after around 6 to 25 years of age. Sturgeon Caviar output, including the Kaluga, from 1957 to 2005, averaged about 117 tons per year. The animals are being hunted down for their unfertilized eggs because sturgeon roe is considered a delicacy to people all across the world (Yang et al. 2006). This market cuts down on the Kaluga population and only hastens the process of their extinction. Another reason for the endangerment is river pollution, especially near spawning grounds. This has led to deformed eggs and has caused defects in birth. [6][7][8] Hybrids between Japanese sturgeon (Acipenser schrenckii) and Kaluga (Huso dauricus) have been produced in aquaculture and have found their way into the wild, where they are now frequently found and pose a threat to the native parental species.[9]

Population Trends edit

Data regarding the population trends of the Beluga Sturgeon is primarily based on various catch methods and efforts. The species has experienced a significant decline in catches since the late 19th century. Notably, China observed an 80% reduction in mature fish between 2008 and 2018. In the late 19th century, annual catches were around 500 tons, mainly in lower river sections, but by 1992, this had dropped to 92 tons. In 2012, the lower river's stock size was estimated at 7,100 tons. While no commercial fisheries currently target this species, it faces severe threats from illegal fishing, particularly in Russia. This combination of factors has led to an estimated decline of over 90% in just 90 years, equivalent to roughly three generations of the species.[9]

Protection edit

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international agreement signed by 180 nations designed to ensure that international trade in animals and plants does not threaten their survival in the wild. The treaty was drafted in Washington, D.C. In 1973 and entered into force in 1975.[10] The Kaluga is protected by Appendix II of CITES,[11] which includes species that although currently not threatened with extinction, may become so without trade controls. Regulated trade is allowed provided that the exporting country issues a permit based on findings that the specimens were legally acquired, and the trade will not be detrimental to the survival of the species or its role in the ecosystem.[12]

In addition, national laws have been passed to protect the Kaluga Sturgon. Commercial sturgeon fishing was prohibited in the Soviet Union during the periods 1923-1930, 1958-1976 and from 1984 to the present (Vaisman and Fomenko 2007). The Kaluga Sturgeon was listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1998.

References edit

  1. ^ Ruban, G.; Qiwei, W. (2010). "Huso dauricus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2010: e.T10268A3186676. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-1.RLTS.T10268A3186676.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  3. ^ Froese, R.; Pauly, D. (2017). "Acipenseridae". FishBase version (02/2017). Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  4. ^ "Acipenseridae" (PDF). Deeplyfish- fishes of the world. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  5. ^ Fisheries, NOAA (2021-07-20). "| NOAA Fisheries". www.fisheries.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  6. ^ Wang, Yamin, and Jianbo Chang. "Status and Conservation of Sturgeons in Amur River, China: A Review Based on Surveys since the Year 2000." Wiley Online Library. Blackwell Verlag, 1 Oct. 2006. Web. 24 Oct. 2014.
  7. ^ Family Name Acipenseridae Wikipedia (2011-05-03). "Sturgeon | WWF". Wwf.panda.org. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  8. ^ Krikhtin, Mikhail, and Victor Svirskii. "Endemic Sturgeons of the Amur River: Kaluga, Huso Dauricus, and Amur Sturgeon, Acipenser Schrenckii - Springer." Endemic Sturgeons of the Amur River: Kaluga, Huso Dauricus, and Amur Sturgeon, Acipenser Schrenckii - Springer. Ed. Vadim Birstein, John Waldman, and William Bemis. Springer Netherlands, 1 Jan. 1997. Web. 24 Oct. 2014.
  9. ^ a b "Red List - Kaluga".
  10. ^ "What is CITES". CITES.org. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  11. ^ "The Appendicies". CITES.org. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  12. ^ "How CITES works". CITES.org. Retrieved 5 May 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  • Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2007). "Huso dauricus" in FishBase. October 2007 version.
  • Jeremy Wade's River Monsters: "Russian Killer"
  • "Kaluga Sturgeon (Huso Dauricus) - Office of Protected Resources - NOAA Fisheries." Kaluga Sturgeon (Huso Dauricus) - Office of Protected Resources - NOAA Fisheries. N.p., 2 June 2014. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
  • "Descriptions and Articles about the River Beluga (Huso Dauricus)". Encyclopedia of Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
  • "Huso Dauricus." (Kaluga). N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
  • "CITES." :: NOAA Fisheries. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
  • Troshin, Alexei. "Kaluga." (Huso Dauricus). N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
  • "All Fishing Buy, Kaluga Sturgeon Fish Identification, Habitats, Fishing Methods, Fish Characteristics." N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

External links edit

  • Khabarovsk Regional Lore Museum (with picture)
  • Appendix II
  • Kaluga
  • Kaluga Sturgeon fish identification, its habitats, characteristics, fishing methods

January 01, 1970
kaluga, fish, this, article, includes, list, general, references, lacks, sufficient, corresponding, inline, citations, please, help, improve, this, article, introducing, more, precise, citations, october, 2014, learn, when, remove, this, message, kaluga, huso,. This article includes a list of general references but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations October 2014 Learn how and when to remove this message The kaluga Huso dauricus also known as the river beluga is a large predatory sturgeon found in the Amur River basin With a maximum size of at least 1 000 kg 2 205 lb and 5 6 m 18 6 ft the kaluga is one of the biggest of the sturgeon family Like the slightly larger beluga it spends part of its life in salt water Unlike the beluga this fish has 5 major rows of dermal scutes and feeds on salmon and other fish in the Amur They have gray green to black backs with a yellowish green white underbelly Kaluga A kaluga in an Asamushi Aquarium Conservation status Critically Endangered IUCN 3 1 1 CITES Appendix II CITES 2 Scientific classification Domain Eukaryota Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Class Actinopterygii Order Acipenseriformes Family Acipenseridae Genus Huso Species H dauricus Binomial name Huso dauricus Georgi 1775 Synonyms 3 4 Acipenser dauricus Georgi 1775 Acipenser mantschuricus Basilewsky 1855 Acipenser orientalis Pallas 1814 Huso orientalis Pallas 1814 Ichthyocolla daurica Georgi 1775 Acipenser kaluschka Steller 1814 The kaluga has been hunted to near extinction for its valuable roe Despite constant anti poaching patrols poachers still continue to catch the fish In Russia illegally fishing for kaluga anywhere in the Amur River is a felony punishable by law However kalugas are known to have an aggressive nature and instances of them toppling fishing boats and drowning fishermen have been reported although no concrete evidence exists of them assaulting or hunting people Contents 1 Description 2 Habitat 3 Life cycle 4 Diet 5 Conservation 5 1 Population Trends 5 2 Protection 6 References 7 External linksDescription edit nbsp A 3 7 m 12 ft long 500 kg 1 100 lb 70 year old Kaluga fish which stored around 4 million eggs nbsp The Amur river an important habitat for the Kaluga sturgeon The kaluga sturgeon is a massive fish also known as the river beluga It has a triangular head with several bony plates Its body is an elongated fusiform body with five rows of bony scutes dorsal with 10 16 beetles the first is largest two laterals 32 46 scutes and two ventral 8 12 scutes between rows of small bony scutes grains and rarely more large plate Lateral scutes are smaller than the dorsal and ventral scutes The mouth takes up the entire lower surface of the snout it is lateral crescent shaped and extremely large Parts of the mouth can move to the side of the head Under the snout and in front of the mouth there is a transverse row of four flattened laterally barbels The inner two barbels are more anterior than the outer ones but they are similar in length The snout of the kaluga sturgeon is short and sharply pointed It has very small eyes located immediately behind its nostrils Habitat editKaluga sturgeon are semi anadromous spending some of its life in salt water but most of its life in freshwater 5 Kalugas are one of the four species of sturgeons to exist in the Amur River The Amur River is one of the largest rivers in East Asia and lies between the borders of China and Russia There are two populations of Kaluga that exist in this river One group of Kalugas spawn in the main stem of the river while others spawn downstream and work their way to the middle of the river In the early life of a Kaluga the offspring prefer to live in a clear habitat setting They prefer the point of the river where there is an illuminated white bottom and open space for them to swim way above the bottom of the river The Kaluga also prefers to avoid any cover from the river Observations suggest that the Kaluga embryos might do this to avoid predators near the bottom of the river The Kaluga sturgeon are currently endangered now because of human interaction However environmental factors such as warm water temperatures pose risk for fungus over free embryos and could be a cause of death also The migration intensity of Kaluga is also a big factor in the life of a Kaluga Water velocity in the stream has a great effect on the migration of the free embryos meaning that the greater the force of the stream of water is the more likely the embryo migrates Migration plays a big role in Kaluga s early life The migration of baby Kaluga is considered a passive migration because the embryos have no control over where the river flow takes them However when grown the Kaluga constantly migrates back and forth between upstream and downstream The generation length of the species is not less than 20 years comparable to humans Life cycle editKaluga Sturgeon hatch in shallow gravel beds in the freshwater estuaries of the Amur River Their parents play no role in their lives They remain in the egg from 83 to 295 hours and hatch with a yolk sac that feeds them for up to 8 or 9 days After that the Kaluga Sturgeon are forced to hunt They hunt for tiny zooplankton insects and shrimp They reach the sea with the help of the current and remain there until they are ready to breed between the ages of 10 and 14 Kaluga spends at least part of its life in salt water and returns to rivers to breed The Kaluga Sturgeon spawns in lower reaches of the Amur River in strong current habitats in the mainstream of the river on gravel or sandy gravel bottom at water temperatures of 70 F 12 20 C in depths of 6 10 feet 2 3 m Spawning peaks from the end of May to July Adults spawn many times during their life cycle Spawning periodicity is 4 5 years in females and 3 4 years in males Water temperature affects the onset of maturity of females Females spawn a year earlier during warm years than they would during cold years Females are only able to breed every four years Their spawning season begins in May and ends in July Adult Kaluga Sturgeons travel in small groups of between 3 and 20 individuals to the shallow gravel beds to spawn Sometimes if the Kaluga Sturgeon is too large it may die from getting stuck in the shallow water The Kaluga Sturgeon can hybridize with the Amur sturgeon Diet edit nbsp Feeding behaviorAdult Kaluga Sturgeon have enormous appetites They eat pike carp herring chum salmon keta and most other fish or shellfish that can fit into their mouths A Kaluga Sturgeon can live up to 55 years Conservation editThere are a few reasons as to why exactly this species is declining To begin with they are being severely overfished Ever since the 1900s they have been poached at an alarming rate After World War II in 1948 61 metric tons of Kaluga was caught an unbelievable number for a species of their size Krikhtin et al 1997 They are extremely vulnerable to extinction by poaching because they have late sexual maturity which only occurs after around 6 to 25 years of age Sturgeon Caviar output including the Kaluga from 1957 to 2005 averaged about 117 tons per year The animals are being hunted down for their unfertilized eggs because sturgeon roe is considered a delicacy to people all across the world Yang et al 2006 This market cuts down on the Kaluga population and only hastens the process of their extinction Another reason for the endangerment is river pollution especially near spawning grounds This has led to deformed eggs and has caused defects in birth 6 7 8 Hybrids between Japanese sturgeon Acipenser schrenckii and Kaluga Huso dauricus have been produced in aquaculture and have found their way into the wild where they are now frequently found and pose a threat to the native parental species 9 Population Trends edit Data regarding the population trends of the Beluga Sturgeon is primarily based on various catch methods and efforts The species has experienced a significant decline in catches since the late 19th century Notably China observed an 80 reduction in mature fish between 2008 and 2018 In the late 19th century annual catches were around 500 tons mainly in lower river sections but by 1992 this had dropped to 92 tons In 2012 the lower river s stock size was estimated at 7 100 tons While no commercial fisheries currently target this species it faces severe threats from illegal fishing particularly in Russia This combination of factors has led to an estimated decline of over 90 in just 90 years equivalent to roughly three generations of the species 9 Protection edit The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES is an international agreement signed by 180 nations designed to ensure that international trade in animals and plants does not threaten their survival in the wild The treaty was drafted in Washington D C In 1973 and entered into force in 1975 10 The Kaluga is protected by Appendix II of CITES 11 which includes species that although currently not threatened with extinction may become so without trade controls Regulated trade is allowed provided that the exporting country issues a permit based on findings that the specimens were legally acquired and the trade will not be detrimental to the survival of the species or its role in the ecosystem 12 In addition national laws have been passed to protect the Kaluga Sturgon Commercial sturgeon fishing was prohibited in the Soviet Union during the periods 1923 1930 1958 1976 and from 1984 to the present Vaisman and Fomenko 2007 The Kaluga Sturgeon was listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES in 1998 References edit Ruban G Qiwei W 2010 Huso dauricus IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010 e T10268A3186676 doi 10 2305 IUCN UK 2010 1 RLTS T10268A3186676 en Retrieved 19 November 2021 Appendices CITES cites org Retrieved 2022 01 14 Froese R Pauly D 2017 Acipenseridae FishBase version 02 2017 Retrieved 18 May 2017 Acipenseridae PDF Deeplyfish fishes of the world Retrieved 18 May 2017 Fisheries NOAA 2021 07 20 NOAA Fisheries www fisheries noaa gov Retrieved 2024 05 07 Wang Yamin and Jianbo Chang Status and Conservation of Sturgeons in Amur River China A Review Based on Surveys since the Year 2000 Wiley Online Library Blackwell Verlag 1 Oct 2006 Web 24 Oct 2014 Family Name Acipenseridae Wikipedia 2011 05 03 Sturgeon WWF Wwf panda org Retrieved 2016 10 08 Krikhtin Mikhail and Victor Svirskii Endemic Sturgeons of the Amur River Kaluga Huso Dauricus and Amur Sturgeon Acipenser Schrenckii Springer Endemic Sturgeons of the Amur River Kaluga Huso Dauricus and Amur Sturgeon Acipenser Schrenckii Springer Ed Vadim Birstein John Waldman and William Bemis Springer Netherlands 1 Jan 1997 Web 24 Oct 2014 a b Red List Kaluga What is CITES CITES org Retrieved 5 May 2024 The Appendicies CITES org Retrieved 5 May 2024 How CITES works CITES org Retrieved 5 May 2024 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Froese Rainer Pauly Daniel eds 2007 Huso dauricus in FishBase October 2007 version Jeremy Wade s River Monsters Russian Killer Kaluga Sturgeon Huso Dauricus Office of Protected Resources NOAA Fisheries Kaluga Sturgeon Huso Dauricus Office of Protected Resources NOAA Fisheries N p 2 June 2014 Web 23 Oct 2014 Descriptions and Articles about the River Beluga Huso Dauricus Encyclopedia of Life N p n d Web 23 Oct 2014 Huso Dauricus Kaluga N p n d Web 23 Oct 2014 CITES NOAA Fisheries N p n d Web 23 Oct 2014 Troshin Alexei Kaluga Huso Dauricus N p n d Web 23 Oct 2014 All Fishing Buy Kaluga Sturgeon Fish Identification Habitats Fishing Methods Fish Characteristics N p n d Web 23 Oct 2014 External links editKhabarovsk Krai Government site Tourism and Recreation Kaluga fish with picture Khabarovsk Regional Lore Museum with picture Kaluga and Amure sturgeon habitat map from WWF Appendix II Kaluga Kaluga Sturgeon fish identification its habitats characteristics fishing methods Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kaluga fish amp oldid 1222994900, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.