#Russian sturgeon

ATLANTIC STURGEON AT MARETARIUM!!!!!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!!!!!! She is only 70 cm long and was very recently obtained!!!!!!! Baby!!!!!!!!

Fishuary 2026 Russian Sturgeon featuring Violet from Cinderella Boy

Critter fact #54: The American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) and the Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) can hybridize. These hybrids, discovered accidentally, are called sturddlefish. In the below photo, the Russian sturgeon is a, the American paddlefish is d, and the hybrids are b and c.

( source ) So I have had this sitting open for days now, maybe over a week, trying to find the time to tell you about the Sturdlefish . Apparently russian sturgeon (a) are endangered (like all sturgeon) and don’t breed in captivity well if at all. Conservation isn’t cutting it alone. So a group of scientists in Hungary decided to attempt to stimulate gynogenesis, which is a kind of parthenogenesis; basically, asexual reproduction BUT one produced through artificial stimulation. They planned to take a female sturgeon and introduce sperm from a male American Paddlefish (d) which is related but not closely enough to produce viable offspring. Mostly because the number of chromosomes is wildly different; Paddlefish have 120 pairs, Sturgeon have about 250. Bear in mind, other experiments had done this with the other two sturgeon species with no issues, no hybrids, nothing. Went as expected. It did not go as expected with the Russian sturgeon. The Russian Sturgeon eggs took the Paddlefish sperm and said “this is fine” and produced hybrids (b and c) that look, if possible, even more prehistoric than sturgeon do. Being hybrids created from different families, across fish that don’t share a diet (one is a carnivore, the other an herbivore), the hybrids should not have survived, but they did. The scientists have replicated the experiment a couple of times, with 100 offspring having made it past the first year now. They’re not sure why it worked, either, since it DIDN’T work on the other sturgeons (no hybrids were produced there). They’ve stopped doing it for the time being, and are now using the hybrids to research how sturgeon grow without having to reduce their wild population to do so. They’re also still hoping to learn how to help the Russian sturgeon reproduce better.

Trick or sturgeon

S T U R G E O N ! Maretarium Baltic Sea tank in February, featuring both Russian and Siberian sturgeons

Critter fact #77: The Russian Sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) isn’t endemic to Russia, being found in a few other nearby countries as well as the Caspian sea. It is also critically endangered.

favorite fish ever?

Currently it is the mighty sturgeon! A more specific answer would be Acipenser oxyrinchus , though I don’t discriminate with my love for all sturgeon species. They’re old fish, in both lifespan and overall how long the group has been around! I love how they look very powerful and regal and grow to be very large, meanwhile they’re actually harmless (to humans) and bottom feeders. I hope I get to see one in nature or work with them some day, however perhaps not in the caviar industry ^^’ Here’s a picture of some sturgeons I got to see at an aquarium recently! Neither is A. oxyrinchus , but if my knowledge is correct the one on the left is a Siberian sturgeon and the one on the right is a Russian sturgeon. A very close second for the title would be the northern pike. I love both pikes and sturgeons very much! :)

sturddlefish weren’t supposed to exist. they were supposed to be infertile eggs but instead they hatched?? the last common ancestor between surgeon and paddlefish was 180 million years ago- that’s like trying to cross a modern human with a platypus (common ancestor ~170 million years ago). it shouldn’t have worked and because the sturddlefish weren’t really genetically all there (many of the eggs didn’t make it very far into the development) the ones that hatched looked very different from one another source: wikimedia specifically, it was a cross between the Russian Sturgeon and the American Paddlefish. if you’re thinking “they’re both fish though” I need you to remember that “fish” is a SHAPE. just like “tree” and “crab” and “ferret” are shapes. except things have been living in the water much, much longer than they’ve been living on land, so “fish” have had even longer to evolve away from each other. the last time their common ancestor existed, humans and platypi hadn’t even branched off from each other

diamond sturgeon? :-)

fish 177 - diamond sturgeon/russian sturgeon

Meet the Sturddlefish! NEW fish hybrid accidentally created by scientists This weird-looking fish is a hybrid offspring of the American paddlefish and Russian sturgeon, both critically endangered. Read more in my CNET article here.