Page 98 - Animals of the Sakhalin Region in myths and legends

Sturgeon Sakhalin

(Acipenser mikadoi)

Large fish, reaching a length of 2.5 m and weight up to 80 kg. The body
is low, elongated, fusiform with a long caudal peduncle. The back is grayish
brown with a strong olive green tint. A weak, almost flexible, first ray of the
pectoral fin is characteristic. The snout is triangular, elongated, obtuse; snout
about half the length of the head. The antennae have very small fringes. The
body between the dorsal and lateral beetles is covered with stellate bone plates,
which are sometimes arranged in regular rows; below the lateral beetles there
are small plates and grains. All scutes, plates, and beetles are sharply radially
granular.
Sakhalin sturgeon lives in the waters of the Sea of Japan and Okhotsk and
the Tatar Strait. Once he spawned in some rivers of the Khabarovsk Territory,
Sakhalin, Primorye, Japan, Korea and China. However, ruthless fishing led to
its almost complete destruction by the end of the 20th century. At present, it
is still found in the Tumnin River (Khabarovsk Territory) and in the Viakhtu
River in the north-west of Sakhalin; older juveniles have been reliably found
in Aniva Bay.

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