The weight of the largest beluga? How much did the largest beluga weigh? What does beluga fish look like and where is found in Russia Beluga in the Caspian

Everyone has heard the expression “roaring like a beluga”, but not everyone clearly imagined what this animal looks like. What kind of beluga is this and what else besides the roar can it be famous for? Let's try to figure this out. Well, for starters, let's say right away that a beluga cannot roar at all. If only because it belongs to the class of fish, and fish, as you know, are silent.

Description of the Beluga

Beluga is the largest freshwater fish living in the waters of our country.. It lives on Earth for almost 200 million years and, like all other sturgeons, has learned to adapt to the most different conditions habitat. These fish do not have a backbone, and instead of a skeleton there is a flexible chord.

Appearance

Beluga is large in size: its weight can be equal to one and a half tons, and its length is more than four meters. Some of the eyewitnesses even saw beluga reaching a length of nine meters. If all these unconfirmed testimonies are true, then the beluga can be considered the largest freshwater fish in the world. She has a thick and massive body.

With its head and muzzle shape, the beluga resembles a pig: its snout, which looks like a snout, is short and blunt, and its huge toothless mouth, which occupies almost the entire lower part of the head, surrounded by thick lips, has a crescent shape. Only beluga fry have teeth, and even those disappear after a short time. The antennae hanging down from the upper lip and reaching the mouth are slightly flattened downwards. The eyes of this fish are small and blind, so it is oriented mainly with the help of a well-developed sense of smell.

It is interesting! With Latin name Beluga (Huso huso) translates as "pig". And, if you take a closer look, you can really notice that these two creatures are similar in some way both externally and in their omnivorousness.

Beluga males and females differ little in appearance, and both of them have the body covered with equally large scales. The scales look like rhombuses and nowhere overlap each other. This type of scale is called ganoid. The back of the beluga is gray-brownish, the belly is lighter.

Behavior and lifestyle

Beluga is an anadromous fish, mainly it leads a benthic lifestyle. The very appearance of this amazing creature, reminiscent of the appearance of ancient armored fish, indicates that the beluga rarely appears on the surface: after all, with such a massive body it is more convenient to swim in deep water than in the shallows.

She continually changes her habitat in the reservoir and often goes to the depths: there the current is faster, which allows the beluga to find food, and there are deep holes that this fish uses as places to rest. In spring, when the upper layers of water begin to warm up, it can be seen in shallow water. With the onset of autumn, the beluga again goes to the sea or river depths, where it changes its usual diet, eating mollusks and crustaceans.

Important! Beluga is a very large fish, it can only find enough food for itself in the seas. And the very presence of beluga in the reservoir is evidence of a healthy ecosystem.

The beluga travels great distances in search of food and spawning grounds. Almost all beluga tolerate both salt and fresh water equally well, although certain types can only live in fresh water.

How long does a beluga live

Beluga is a real long-liver. Like all other sturgeons, it slowly matures: up to 10-15 years, but it lives a very long time. The age of this fish, if it lives in good conditions, can reach a hundred years, although now beluga live for forty years.

Range, habitats

The beluga lives in the Black Sea, in the Sea of ​​Azov and in the Caspian Sea. Let less often, but also found in the Adriatic. It spawns in the Volga, Don, Danube, Dnieper and Dniester. Infrequently, but you can meet her in the Urals, Kura or Terek. There is also a very small chance to see a beluga in the Upper Bug and near the Crimean coast.

There was a time when the beluga walked along the Volga to Tver, along the Dnieper to Kyiv, along the Ural River to Orenburg, and along the Kura to Tbilisi itself. But for some time now, this fish has not been taken so far upstream of the rivers. This is primarily due to the fact that the beluga cannot rise upstream due to hydroelectric power stations blocking its path. Previously, she also appeared in such rivers as the Oka, Sheksna, Kama and Sura.

Beluga diet

Recently born fry, weighing no more than seven grams, feed on river plankton, as well as larvae of mayflies, caddisflies, caviar and fry of other fish, including sturgeon species related to them. Grown up Belugas eat juveniles of stellate sturgeon and sturgeon. Young Belugas are generally characterized by cannibalism. As the young beluga grows up, her diet also changes.

After the young of the year move from the rivers to the sea, they feed on crustaceans, molluscs and small fish, such as gobies or sprats, as well as herring and cyprinids until the age of two. Upon reaching two years, beluga cubs become predators. Now approximately 98% of their total diet is fish. food addictions Belugas change depending on the season and feeding grounds. In the sea, this fish feeds year-round, although with the onset of the cold season, it eats less. Remaining for the winter in the rivers, she also continues to feed.

It is interesting! The food of many adult sturgeons is various small living creatures that live on the bottom, and only the largest of them - beluga and kaluga - feed on fish. In addition to small fish, their victims may be other sturgeon and even small seal pups.

In the belly of one of the caught sturgeons, a rather large sturgeon, several roach and bream were found. And in another female of this species, the catch was two large carps, more than a dozen roach and three bream. Also, a large pike perch became its prey even earlier: its bones were found in the stomach of the same beluga.

Reproduction and offspring

Beluga starts breeding late. So, males are ready to breed at the age of at least 12 years, and females do not breed before they are 16-18 years old.

The females of the Caspian beluga are ready to continue their race at the age of 27: only by this age do they become fit for reproduction and accumulate sufficient weight for this. Most fish die after spawning is over. But the beluga spawns repeatedly, though with interruptions of two to four years.

All for her long life there are 8-9 spawnings. She spawns on a sandy or pebble bottom, where there is a fast current, which is necessary for a constant supply of oxygen. After fertilization, the eggs become sticky and stick to the bottom.

It is interesting! A female beluga can lay several million eggs, while total weight caviar can reach up to a quarter of the weight of the fish itself.

In 1922, a five-meter beluga weighing more than 1200 kg was caught in the Volga. It contained approximately 240 kg of caviar. The hatched larvae, later turning into fry, set off on a difficult journey - in search of the sea. "Spring" female beluga, entering the river from the middle of winter to the end of spring, spawn in the same year. The “wintering” beluga in order to find and take a place convenient for spawning, comes to the rivers in August and stays there for the winter. She spawns only the next year, and before that she lies in a semblance of hibernation, having gone to the bottom and covered with mucus.

In May or June, the "winter" beluga comes out of hibernation and spawns. Fertilization in these fish is external, like in all sturgeons. Caviar attached to the bottom of the reservoir, for the most part becomes the prey of other fish, so the percentage of survival among juvenile beluga is very low. Belugas live on warm sunbeams shallow water. And after they grow up enough, they leave their native rivers and go to the sea. They quickly increase their size and by the year their length becomes approximately equal to a meter.

natural enemies

There are practically no natural enemies in adult beluga. But their caviar, as well as larvae and fry living in the rivers, are eaten by freshwater predatory fish.

It is interesting! Paradoxically, one of the main natural enemies beluga - this fish itself. The fact is that the Belugas that have grown up to 5-8 cm are happy to eat the caviar of their relatives in the spawning grounds.

Population and species status

By the beginning of the 21st century, the beluga population had declined significantly, and this species itself was considered endangered and was listed in Russia and in the International Red Book.

AT natural environment due to the small number of livestock of its species, the beluga can interbreed with other related sturgeons. And in 1952, through the efforts of scientists, an artificial hybrid of beluga and sterlet was bred, which was called bester. It is bred, as a rule, in artificial reservoirs, since Bester is not released into natural reservoirs, where other sturgeons are found, in order to keep the natural populations of other species clean.

Beluga is a fish belonging to the sturgeon family, the sturgeon order. It is a valuable commercial breed, for a long time it was caught in large quantities, because of which its number was greatly reduced; is now an endangered species.

This species is the largest freshwater sturgeon fish. A catch of individuals reaching a length of up to 4.2 m was recorded. The maximum weight is 1.5 tons. Fishermen claim that when the largest beluga was caught, it reached 9 m in length and weighed more than 2 tons, but these facts nothing has been confirmed. The average size of the fish is smaller: most often the beluga comes across, the weight of which does not exceed 300 kg.

The appearance of this underwater inhabitant is similar to the appearance of other sturgeon representatives: the body is elongated, wide, rounded. Towards the tail, the body of the beluga narrows. The scales have a gray-ash tint. The belly is light, off-white in color, a yellowish tint is possible.

Do not confuse beluga and beluga: the latter is a species of toothed whales. Previously, both words meant mammal; now “beluga” means fish, “beluga” means whale.

Distinctive features

feature appearance is a large head, in the lower part of which antennae are connected together. The nose is small, pointed. Large mouth with no teeth inside. There are spikes on the back, the first of which is small. Between the gills is a membrane connecting them.

Behavior and lifestyle

natural enemies this species has almost none. Eggs, however, can be eaten by other predatory species. Some underwater predators also destroy larvae and fry. Young fry of this large predatory fish can also devour the young of this species of sturgeon.

Exist a large number of underwater inhabitants, which representatives of the largest freshwater species of sturgeon feed on - and the beluga feeds on those who are smaller. These are small fish species, smaller relatives, mollusks, crustaceans, and even waterfowl. Cases have been recorded when the remains of baby seals were found in the stomach of captured individuals. The fry eat insect larvae and zooplankton.

Habitat

Previously, the range was wider. It was possible to meet this kind of sturgeon in the Adriatic Sea. Over the past 30 years, not a single individual has been found in this salty reservoir, so the population is considered destroyed.

Now this species can be found in the Azov, Black and Caspian Seas. These seas used to be inhabited too large quantity individuals, now the population from the Black Sea is on the verge of extinction, because. too few.

During the breeding season, fish move to fresh rivers, from where it then returns to the seas to live in salt water for 1-2 years.

Life span

How long this representative of the underwater fauna lives depends on external conditions. If the habitat is favorable, life expectancy can be up to 100 years.

reproduction

Belugas go to rivers to spawn. Features of migration depend on the variety - on how the fish looks and where it lives. The Azov Beluga moves to the Don. A smaller number of individuals rush to the Kuban. The Black Sea swims in the Danube, Dnieper, Dniester. Rare specimens rise along the Southern Bug. The Caspian beluga swims for breeding in the Volga, a smaller number of representatives of the species rises upstream of the Urals, Terek, Kura. It often rises for spawning in August, after which it remains in fresh water for a year, breeding only in May.

Reaches puberty late. Males become capable of breeding from 13-18 years old, females - from 16-27. The Azov variety ripens faster than others.

Fertility depends on the size of the individual. One female is capable of sweeping from 500,000 to 1,000,000 eggs at a time. The largest representatives of the species can throw up to 5,000,000 eggs. There is about the fertility of the beluga interesting fact: populations living in different areas are tossing different quantity eggs. It is believed that the Volga females throw about 50% more at a time than those breeding in the Kura.

After spawning, adult fish go to sea, where they live until the next breeding. Beluga spawning happens every 2-4 years; during life they multiply up to 8-9 times.

Caviar sticky, bottom, pearl gray color. Large in diameter, can reach 5 mm. Often it becomes the prey of other river predators, the survival rate is low. Belugas quickly leave the place of birth, slide downstream into the sea. Individuals may remain in fresh water up to 5-6 years.

There have been cases of crossing beluga with sterlet, sturgeon, spike, stellate sturgeon in natural conditions.

The benefits of beluga meat

This fish has tougher meat than other members of the sturgeon family. Less fat content. For this reason, the product can be used in a dietary diet. The protein it contains is easily digestible human body. It contains vitamins A, D, PP, E, C, iron, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, molybdenum, potassium, fluorine, sodium. The pulp also contains fatty acid Omega-3, amino acids, including essential ones. Milk is also used for food: you can eat it fresh or in the form of pate.

Beluga tender black caviar is also useful. This expensive product contains a large amount useful substances. Considered a delicacy.

Beluga meat should not be eaten in case of inflammatory diseases, allergic reactions, kidney diseases, diabetes, gastritis, edema. In these cases, it can harm the body.

Artificial breeding of beluga

Due to excessive population decline, the status of the species has changed to "endangered". Beluga has long been listed in the Red Book in order to protect it from poachers. Because of this, fishing was severely limited, in some countries it is forbidden to catch these underwater inhabitants. To restore the population of the species, other methods are also used: people breed beluga in artificially created conditions.

Via artificial insemination on the Don and Volga, a hybrid capable of producing offspring has been bred. To obtain it, beluga were crossed with sterlet. The resulting individuals were relocated to the Sea of ​​Azov. In addition, they inhabited several reservoirs.

Artificial breeding of the breed is also carried out in some aquaculture farms.

Beluga is the largest fish that can be found in the waters of our planet. According to official data, its length can reach 4.5 meters and weigh up to 1500 kilograms. Although, there is evidence that they caught beluga 2 times large sizes. In any case, such data indicate that the beluga is the most major representative sturgeon family.

In our time, such dimensions are something from the realm of fantasy. As a rule, individuals come across weighing no more than 300 kilograms, which indicates certain problems associated with life cycle this giant of rivers and seas.

habitats

Not more than 100 years ago, this giant was found in the basins of the Caspian, Black, Azov and Adriatic seas. Nowadays, it can be found only in the Black Sea basin, or rather in the Danube River, as well as in the Caspian Sea basin, exclusively in the Urals. In a swimming pool Sea of ​​Azov, or rather, in the Volga River, one of the subspecies of the beluga is found, the number of which is maintained artificially.

Since many countries are engaged in artificial breeding of fish, the beluga population has not yet decreased in the water bodies of Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Serbia and Turkey. And this is due to the fact that measures to restore the number of this fish occupy a special place in the decision similar problems. Only at the state level is it possible to solve such complex problems.

The appearance of the beluga resembles its resemblance to sturgeon species fish. To hallmarks should include:

• Fairly large mouth.
• Not big nose obtuse shape.
• The first spike, located on the back, is small.
• Between the gills is a membrane that connects them.

Beluga is distinguished by a wide, heavy body of a rounded shape, which is painted in a gray-ash hue. The belly is off-white in color, sometimes with a yellowish tint. On a massive body is located big head. The whiskers below the snout resemble leaf-like appendages as they are joined together.

Beluga sometimes interbreeds with its relatives, such as sterlet, spike, Russian sturgeon. As a result, hybrids are obtained that outwardly have some differences associated with the structure of the body, gills or color. Despite this, hybrids do not differ in their behavior from their relatives.

Beluga is a fish that has a peculiar behavior among representatives of this species. There are two forms that differ in the period of spawning migrations and the duration of stay in fresh water. In the sea, the beluga prefers to lead a solitary lifestyle, and being in the river, it gathers in numerous flocks. This is due to the fact that she comes to the rivers for spawning, and in the sea she only feeds and develops.

Beluga is predatory fish and she begins to lead this way of life quite early. The diet includes fish such as herring, carp, zander and gobies. At the same time, the beluga is not averse to swallowing its relative if it is small and hesitated somewhere.

In addition to fish, she is able to swallow shellfish, waterfowl and even baby seals, if it reaches the appropriate size. Experts came to the conclusion that the migrations of the beluga are associated with the migrations of its food supply.

One of the subspecies spawns before the other. Its spawning period coincides with the maximum spring water level in the rivers. At the same time, the water temperature can reach + 8- + 17 degrees. Another subspecies comes for spawning from the seas somewhere in the month of August. After that, individuals hibernate in deep holes, and begin to spawn in spring. Beluga begins to spawn at the age of 15-17 years, after reaching a weight of about 50 kg.

Beluga spawns at a depth of at least 10 meters. At the same time, she chooses areas with a hard rocky bottom and with fast current which provides the spawning site with oxygen.

Fish living in the seas enter the rivers for spawning, therefore they are called migratory. Being in fresh water, she continues to feed actively. After spawning, as soon as fry appear from the eggs, she returns to the sea with them. Beluga comes to spawn once every 2-3 years. At the same time, there is a species that lives in rivers constantly and does not migrate over long distances.

Commercial fishing

More recently, the beluga was of industrial interest and was caught at a tremendous pace. Because of this, a similar breed of fish was on the verge of extinction.

Since this fish may disappear altogether, its catch is significantly limited in all countries of the world. In some countries, it is forbidden to catch it at all. Beluga is listed in the Red Book as a species that is on the verge of extinction. In some countries, it is permissible to catch it under a special license and only for the purpose of scientific research. This fish is caught with fixed or rafted nets.

Beluga black caviar is the most expensive food product today. Its cost can reach several thousand euros per kilogram. The caviar that is found in the markets is either counterfeit or illegally obtained.

1. Beluga can live for over 100 years, which is why it is considered one of the longest-lived fish in the world.
2. Parents do not care about their offspring. Moreover, they do not mind feasting on their relatives.
3. When the beluga spawns, it jumps high out of the water. Until now, this is an unsolved mystery.
4. The beluga, like the shark, has no bones, and its skeleton consists of cartilage, which over the years become harder and stronger.
5. The female can find quite a lot of caviar. So, an individual weighing about 1200 kg can have up to 150 kg of caviar.
6. In the Amur River basin, there is a close species - kaluga, which can reach a length of about 5 meters and weigh up to 1000 kg. Attempts by scientists to cross Kaluga and Beluga ended in nothing.

According to scientists, the beluga population has declined by 90% in just the last 50 years. Therefore, based on such research results, we can assume that this is not at all a comforting result. Back in the middle of the last century, about 25 thousand individuals entered the Volga for spawning, and already at the beginning of this century this number was reduced to 3 thousand.

Moreover, all these processes take place against the backdrop of huge efforts that humanity is making in order to maintain the population of the species at least at the same level. The main reasons for the reduction in numbers are as follows:

1. Construction of hydroelectric power plants. The presence of huge dams does not allow fish to climb to it. natural places spawning grounds. Such structures practically cut off the ways of beluga movement in the rivers of Austria, Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia.
2. activities of poachers. Sufficiently high prices for the meat of this fish and its caviar are of interest to people who are accustomed to earning money illegally. Since they catch the largest individuals that are able to reproduce numerous offspring, the damage is very significant. As a result of such actions, the Adriatic population completely disappeared.
3. Violation of ecology. Since the beluga can live for a long time, during this time harmful substances accumulate in her body that enter the water, as a result economic activity human, such as pesticides. similar view chemical affects the reproductive functions of fish.

One can only hope that people will still be able to preserve this type of fish, which is huge in size, for their descendants.

This is a fish of the sturgeon family, included in the Red Book as an endangered species. Lives in the Black, Caspian, Adriatic and mediterranean seas. Due to the gigantic size of individual individuals, the beluga is the largest freshwater fish. Which is probably not surprising, because this species is unusually ancient. The age of sturgeons is more than 200 million years, when very large fish and animals reigned on Earth. Just look at the Danube beluga - a relative of dinosaurs. So, what is the weight of big beluga on the ground?

In 1827, a beluga was caught in the lower reaches of the Volga, weighing one and a half tons, that is, 1,500 kilograms. Just imagine, such a weight is comparable to the weight of some whales. So, the narwhal whale weighs about 940 kilograms, and the killer whale - 3600 kilograms. That is, this fish weighed like half a killer whale and more than a narwhal!

On average, a standard beluga weighs about 19 kilograms.(fish weight typical for the Northern Caspian). In past average weight beluga on the Volga was about 70-80 kg, in the Danubian area of ​​the Black Sea - 50-60 kg, on the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, the fish weighed 60-80 kg. But in the Don Delta, males weighed 75-90 kg, and females - as much as 166 kg. Even the average weight already speaks of the grandiose size and severity of this fish.

However, the average weight of most individuals in the population is not even close to the record weight of the largest beluga. On May 11, 1922, at the mouth of the Volga, in the Caspian Sea, a beluga was caught weighing 1224 kilograms, that is, 1.2 tons! At the same time, 667 kilograms fell on the body, 288 kilograms on the head and 146.5 kilograms on the calf.

The weight of the female during the spawning period increases many times. After all, the beluga throws millions of eggs! In 1924, a female of the same weight of 1.2 tons was caught on Biryuchya Spit in the Caspian Sea. At the same time, 246 kilograms of weight accounted for caviar. Total eggs amounted to 7.7 million!

One female can carry up to 320 kilograms of caviar. Beluga wears them until the spring spawning. Waiting for him, the female hibernates in the rivers, falling into hibernation and overgrown with mucus, like a stone. If it happens that the female does not find a suitable place for spawning, she will not spawn, and the eggs will eventually dissolve inside her.

A huge amount of caviar is laid by nature in the beluga not by chance. Its task is to ensure the survival of the species. After all, beluga caviar is carried away by the current, eaten by other fish. Out of a hundred thousand eggs, only one will survive.

Records of giant beluga do not end with the above examples. On May 3, 1926, a 75-year-old female weighing more than one ton was caught at the mouth of the Urals. She carried 190 kg of caviar.

Beluga, whose stuffed animal is kept in National Museum Tatarstan, weighs about one ton. This fish was caught at the beginning of the 20th century in the lower reaches of the Volga. In the southern part of the Caspian Sea in 1836, a beluga weighing 960 kg was caught.

Over time, the record weight of the most large beluga everything decreased and no longer exceeded a ton. In 1970, an 800-ton beluga was caught on the Volga, which contained 112 kg of caviar. In the same place in 1989 they caught a fish weighing 966 kg. Now it is stored in the Astrakhan Museum.

It can be considered the largest freshwater fish in the world. globe. If information from unverified sources is correct, then sturgeon fish beluga in the past, as an exception, even reached nine meters. In this case, the second place in the row goes to largest fish from fresh water.

The maximum measured specimens of beluga caught in different years do not reach five meters:

• 4.24 meters - the length of a female caught in the Caspian Sea near the mouth of the Ural River (1926). It was a 75-year-old fish weighing more than one ton.
• 4.17 meters - the length of the beluga from the lower reaches of the Volga (early 20th century). The age of this specimen was estimated at sixty to seventy years.
• 4.20 meters - the length of a specimen caught in the delta of the Volga River (1989). Now a stuffed animal of this beluga can be seen in the museum of the city of Astrakhan. There is no information about age.

If we rely on reliable data on measuring the length of the largest individuals, then the beluga fish is still inferior to the Kaluga fish, the largest measured specimen of which exceeded five meters and was equal to five meters and sixty centimeters.

If we analyze the weight of beluga fish caught in different years and documented, we can assume that the largest individual of this species still greatly exceeded five meters. Published in 1861, “Studies on the state of fisheries in Russia” reported on a huge beluga caught in 1827 in the lower reaches of the Volga, whose weight was one and a half tons (1500 kilograms). If these figures are compared with the weight of an individual 4 meters 24 centimeters long, which was more than one ton (1000 kilograms), then the reality of the existence of a beluga larger than five meters becomes an obvious fact. After all, a 1,500-kilogram fish caught in 1827 was probably about 6 meters long or more.

Thus, the maximum measured weight of beluga fish (1500 kg) is the criterion for recognizing it as the largest freshwater fish. And Kaluga takes second place, since its Weight Limit estimated at one ton (1000 kilograms).

Appearance Features

The description of beluga fish is very reminiscent of its relative Kaluga:

• Long body, similar to a huge gray spindle, lighter in the abdominal part.
• The caudal fin is unequally lobed, with an upper lobe nearly twice the size of the lower lobe.

Below is a photo of a beluga fish, in which the entire description of the features of its appearance is clearly visible.

The beluga has a pointed, but short snout, under which there is a huge crescent-shaped mouth that extends over the head and two pairs of whiskers with clearly visible leaf-shaped appendages along the entire length of each antennae. In the photo of the beluga fish, you can very well see both the mouth and the leaf-shaped appendages on the mustache.

How to distinguish between these two huge fish from the sturgeon family of the sturgeon order and belonging to the same genus Huso? After all general description beluga fish is practically the same as for kaluga, but there are clearly visible differences. Kaluga (Huso dauricus) differs from Beluga (Huso huso) in the structure of the antennae located under the elongated snout. Watch a video of how the Moskvarium guides show these differences during the tour.

Lifestyle and distribution

Beluga sturgeon is migratory, as are salmon. As an adult, she lives in seas with different salinity:

• In the Caspian and Azov Seas (salinity from twelve to thirteen ppm).
• In the Black Sea, the salinity of which is from seventeen to eighteen ppm.
• In the Mediterranean Sea, with high salinity, as in the ocean - about thirty-five ppm.

Belugas enter rivers for breeding:

• From the Caspian Sea for spawning, they go to the Volga, Kura, Ural and Terek. In past years, beluga climbed to spawning grounds located quite high along the Volga River basin. They even reached Tver, entered the Kama River and moved to its upper reaches. Currently, this is no longer observed.
• From the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, the beluga goes to spawn in the Don, and in very small numbers - in the Kuban. In the past, spawning adults rose very high along the Don, now they are no higher than the Tsimlyanskaya hydroelectric power station.
• From the Black Sea the largest number Mature individuals are sent for spawning to the Dniester, Danube and Dnieper, since it is the northwestern part of the Black Sea waters that is the main habitat of the beluga in this sea. In past years, as in the spawning rivers of other seas, during the breeding season, fish were observed moving very high along the basin of each of the listed rivers. For example, rare specimens were noted along the Dnieper even near Kyiv.

Reproduction and hybridization

Beluga is a long-liver, lives up to the age of one hundred years. If Pacific salmon are able to spawn only once in their lives and die immediately, then beluga spawns many times during their life. Having finished spawning, adults again return to the sea and continue feeding until the next spawning. Fish with this lifestyle that migrate to rivers to breed are called anadromous.

Beluga caviar is dark gray with a silvery tint, quite large (up to 2.5 millimeters in diameter) and sticky. It is deposited on the bottom, where it sticks to various substrates. The fry that emerged from the eggs are also rather big - from fifteen to twenty-four millimeters. Almost immediately after hatching, they roll into the sea. It happens that individual specimens can remain in rivers for several years (from five to six).

AT natural conditions there are hybrids of beluga with other types of sturgeon, for example, with sterlet, sturgeon, spike and others. result artificial breeding is a hybrid called bester: the result of crossing a beluga with a sterlet. Bester is quite viable, it is successfully grown both in reservoirs and in pond farms. He was settled in the Sea of ​​Azov, where he feels good.

Puberty and fertility

Beluga males become sexually mature earlier (at the age of thirteen - eighteen years). Females start spawning at the age of sixteen, and some - at twenty-seven, but most first participate in spawning at 22 years old. The beluga living in the Sea of ​​Azov matures earlier than other populations: males can spawn as early as twelve years old.

In Huso huso (beluga) fertility is different in females different sizes: from half a million eggs to one million. Rarely five million. AT different rivers females of the same size can have markedly different fecundities. For example, there is evidence that in the Volga large individuals (about two and a half meters long) spawn approximately a little more than 900 thousand eggs. In the Kura River, females of the same size lay a little less than 700,000 eggs.

Migrations and nutrition

Migrating to rivers for spawning, most beluga populations spawn in the same year. These are spring fish. But there are some wintering in the river, which spawn next year. They spend the winter in pits located at the bottom of the river, spawn in the spring, and then return to the sea.

Belugas are predators, the basis of the diet is fish. The hatched fry immediately begin to prey. Fattening in the sea, beluga eat mainly fish, such as herring, gobies, sprat), they can also eat shellfish. Sometimes in the stomachs of beluga whales from the Caspian Sea, seal cubs (whites) were found. The beluga going to spawn in the waters of the Volga usually does not feed.

man and beluga

Beluga has always been and is now a very valuable commercial species. Not only caviar and meat are used for food, but even a chord, from which a screech is made. And swim bladders are dried to prepare a special glue, which is used in winemaking when clarifying wine.

In the Sea of ​​Azov, a decrease in the number of beluga is currently observed.

There are several reasons:

• Destruction of natural spawning grounds in rivers, which occurred as a result of the construction of hydroelectric power plants.
• Small number of natural spawning population.
• Shortage of producers for effective artificial reproduction.
• Too much fishing for a long time.

In the Sea of ​​Azov since 1986 - a ban on fishing for beluga. In the International Red Book, the beluga has conservation status as a species on the verge of extinction.