Description, reproduction, behavior in nature and value of beluga. Beluga fish with big secrets where to buy beluga or caviar Where does beluga live

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

Maximum measured beluga specimens taken in different years, do not reach five meters:

• 4.24 meters is 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 that weighed 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 Volga River delta (1989). Now a stuffed 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 measurements of the length of the largest individuals, then the beluga fish still yields first place to the kaluga, 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, “Research on the State of Fisheries in Russia” reported on a huge beluga caught in 1827 in the lower reaches of the Volga, weighing one and a half tons (1,500 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 measuring more than five meters becomes obvious. After all, the 1,500-kilogram fish caught in 1827 was probably about 6 meters long or more.

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

Appearance Features

The description of the beluga fish is very reminiscent of its relative kaluga:

• Long body, like a huge spindle gray, lighter in the abdominal part.
• The caudal fin is unequally lobed with the upper lobe almost twice the size of the lower one.

Below is a photo of a beluga fish, in which all the descriptions of the features of its appearance are 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-like appendages along the entire length of each antennae. In the photo of the beluga fish, you can clearly see both the mouth and the leaf-like appendages on the whiskers.

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

Lifestyle and distribution

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

• 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, like in the ocean - about thirty-five ppm.

Belugas enter rivers to breed:

• From the Caspian Sea they go to the Volga, Kura, Ural and Terek to spawn. In past years, beluga whales ascended to spawning grounds located quite high in 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 ​​Azov, beluga goes to the Don to spawn, and in very small numbers to the Kuban. In the past, along the Don, spawning adults rose very high, now - no higher than the Tsimlyansk hydroelectric station.
• From the Black Sea greatest number sexually mature individuals are sent for spawning to the Dniester, Danube and Dnieper, since it is the northwestern part Black Sea waters is the main habitat of beluga in this sea. In past years, as in spawning rivers of other seas, during reproduction, fish were observed moving very high in the basin of each listed rivers. For example, along the Dnieper, rare specimens were noted even near Kiev.

Reproduction and hybridization

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

Beluga caviar is dark gray with a silver tint, quite large (up to 2.5 millimeters in diameter) and sticky. It is deposited on the bottom, where it adheres to various substrates. The fry that emerge from the eggs are also rather large – 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).

IN natural conditions There are hybrids of beluga with other species of sturgeon, for example, with sterlet, sturgeon, thorn and others. The result artificial breeding is a hybrid called bester: the result of crossing a beluga with a sterlet. Bester is quite resilient and is successfully grown in both reservoirs and pond farms. He was settled in the Sea of ​​Azov, where he feels good.

Timing of puberty and fertility

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

In Huso huso (beluga), fertility varies among females of different sizes: from half a million eggs to one million. It's rare to have five million. In different rivers, females of the same size can have markedly different fecundity. 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 slightly less than 700 thousand eggs.

Migrations and nutrition

When migrating to rivers to spawn, most beluga populations spawn in the same year. These are spring fish. But there are a number of fish that winter in the river and spawn the following year. They spend the winter in holes located at the bottom of the river, spawn in the spring, and then return to the sea.

Belugas are predators; the main diet consists of fish. The hatched fry immediately begin to predatory. While feeding in the sea, belugas eat mainly fish, such as herring, gobies, sprat), and can also eat shellfish. Sometimes baby seals (pups) of seals were found in the stomachs of beluga sturgeons from the Caspian Sea. Belugas going to spawn in the waters of the Volga usually do 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 the chord from which viziga is made. And swim bladders are dried to prepare a special glue, which is used in winemaking to clarify wine.

In the Sea of ​​Azov, there is currently a decline in the number of beluga sturgeon.

There are several reasons:

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

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

Beluga (lat. Huso huso), kyrpa (Tat., in Kazan); Hansen (German); wiz, wyz (Polish); morun (Romanian). - fish of the sturgeon family (Acipenseridae).

The species is included in the IUCN Red List.

Signs. The gill membranes are fused together and form a free fold under the interbranchial space. The snout is short, pointed, soft on top and on the sides, since a significant part is not covered by scutes. The mouth is large, semilunar, and does not extend to the sides of the head.

The lower lip is broken. The antennae are laterally flattened and each is equipped with a leaf-like appendage. There are 11-14 dorsal bugs, 41-52 lateral bugs, 9-11 abdominal bugs.

Of the dorsal bugs, the first is the smallest. The body between the bugs is covered with bone grains. Gill rakers 24. D 62-73; A 28-41.

Related forms. The closest is Kaluga (Cupid), which has the largest of the dorsal bugs, a larger mouth, and no appendages on the antennae.

Spreading. Caspian, Black, Azov and Adriatic Sea, from where the beluga enters the rivers to spawn.

In Russia, in addition to the typical Caspian-Volga form, the Black Sea and Azov subspecies of beluga are also distinguished. The Black Sea form is represented by two herds - western (Dnieper - Danube) and eastern (Caucasus rivers), the Caspian form - by the northern herd (Volga - Ural) and southern (Kura).

Beluga caught in the Volga weighing about 1000 kg and 4.17 m long (National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan)

BELUGA BIOLOGY

Characteristic. Migratory fish; moves alone and gathers in flocks only for the winter. Usually leads a pelagic lifestyle, but in some areas it stays near the bottom during fattening.

Spawning. In the Volga and Urals, spawning occurs in May - June; in Don - in May; in the Danube - from late April to June. Spawning sites are located in the middle Volga: floodplains of the Balykleysky district, near Akatovka and near Peskovatka, near the village of Akhmat, below Saratov, Khvalynsk region, Tetyush. In the Urals, spawning grounds are available both in the lower reaches and in the middle reaches.

Spawning occurs in deep holes (up to 40 m) near islands with stones and woody driftwood, on rocky ridges or pebble deposits with a fast current at a water temperature of 8-15°.

Fecundity, depending on the size of the female, is from 0.5 to 5 million eggs.

Development. Caviar is bottom-based, sticking. The fry appear in the Volga delta in June; at this time they reach a length of 1.5-2.4 cm. The fry roll up quickly and scatteredly, only a few linger in the river.

The ramp lasts until late autumn. At the age of 20-30 days, the fry reach a length of 3.7-7 cm, by September - 22.5-36.4 cm, by the end of the year - 39 cm and a weight of 22.5 g.

Height. Beluga lives a long time and reaches enormous sizes. At the age of 75, she reaches a length of 4.2 m and weighs over 1000 kg. Maximum dimensions beluga: weight 1300 kg with a length of up to 9 m (weight up to 2000 kg is noted).

The Kura beluga grows slower than the Volga beluga. Males mature at 12-14 years, females at 16-18 years with a length of 200 cm and a weight of 80 kg (Azov Sea).

In commercial catches of 1936-1938. Beluga prevailed in the following average sizes: in the lower reaches of the Volga 200-217 cm (entire length), in the northern Caspian 187-201 cm with a weight of 44.4-63.2 kg, in the middle and southern Caspian 166-181 cm with a weight of 34.5 -42.4 kg; in the Sea of ​​Azov average weight males in 1931-1934 was 69.7-80.2 kg, females 167.6-177.8 kg.

Nutrition. The larvae and fry that roll down the river feed on gammarids and mysids; in the sea, from the second year of life, they switch to feeding on shrimp (Crangon, Leander), mollusks (Didacna, Cardium, Mytilus, Mytilaster, Dreissena) and mainly fish, both bottom-dwelling (gobies, redfish) and pelagic (roach, herring, sprat, anchovy).

In the Black Sea in winter, fish (Whiting, Kalkan, Sultana, Smarida, Gobies) make up over 83% of the beluga's food, crustaceans (Crangon) - about 11%, mollusks (Modiola) - 4%. In the river, beluga feeds on sterlet, pike perch and cyprinids.

Competitors. In the sea - partly sturgeon and stellate sturgeon; in the river - pike perch, asp, pike.

Enemies. Beluga fry are eaten by catfish.

Migrations. Beluga rises to spawn in rivers, reaching in the Danube up to Pressburg (formerly above Passau), in the Dniester up to Mogilev-Podolsky, in the Bug up to Voznesensk, in the Dnieper up to the Dneproges (previously it rose above Kiev and entered the Desna and Sozh), in Rione to Kutaisi; from the Sea of ​​Azov it rises along the Don to Pavlovsk, along the Kuban to the village of Ladozhskaya.

From the Caspian Sea, the majority of beluga enters the Volga, partially reaching the upper sections of the Volga-Kama basin (formerly to the mouth of the Shosha River, and along the Kama to the Vishera River); a few belugas enter the Kura and the Urals (up to Chkalov), single specimens go to the Terek to Mozdok and to Sefidrud to Kissim.

The beluga migration is observed in spring and autumn: in the Volga from February to April (mainly in March) and from August to November (mainly in September - October); in the Urals - from March to June (mainly in April - May) and from August to November. Beluga travels to the Don from March to December, and to the Danube from March.

Spring run fish spawn the year they enter the river. Individuals of the summer-autumn run spend the winter in the river in pits, spending two to three years in the river before spawning; The number of beluga wintering in the river is insignificant; wintering places are mainly located in the sea at a depth of 6-12 m. At sea wintering grounds, the beluga makes small movements, stopping in pits in the river.

After spawning, the beluga quickly slides into the sea; in the Black Sea in winter it stays at depths of up to 160 m.

BELUGA FISHING

Meaning. Total beluga catch in 1936-1937 was about 82 thousand centners per year, including about 63 thousand centners in the Caspian Sea, 13 thousand centners in the Azov Sea and 7.2 thousand centners in the Black Sea.

Beluga catch in Russia in 1936-1937. was about 76 thousand c per year.

Romanian catches in Danube waters yielded up to 8 thousand centners (usually 6-7 thousand centners, in 1936-1937 - 4.8 thousand centners). Iran's catches in the southern Caspian Sea usually do not exceed 1.3 thousand cwt.

In the CIS, the Caspian Sea is of primary importance for fishing, where in the period 1936-1938. catches ranged from 40 to 63 thousand cwt. Most beluga is caught in the southern Caspian Sea. In the Sea of ​​Azov in the period 1936-1938. 5.4-18.1 thousand cwt were mined. In the Black Sea, 1.8-2.9 thousand quintals were mined.

Caviar is obtained from 4 to 20% of the weight of females.

Technology and progress of the fishery. Main fishing gear: ahans and hook and line tackle. Beluga is caught both in the river (going to spawn) and in the sea (barren and immature).

In the Volga, the main fishing is in the lower reaches in April and September - November; near Enotaevsk - in March, August and October; in the middle Volga (Syzran, Ulyanovsk, Kazan) - in April, partly in November; in Kama - in April and August.

Usage. Beluga meat and caviar are distinguished by high nutritional qualities. Meat, caviar, entrails, skin, heads are used. All caught beluga is prepared chilled and frozen.

Delivered to consumers frozen or sold in the form of canned food (natural and in tomato sauce), dried and smoked balyk products (teshi, bokovniki), culinary products (boiled, jellied, fried beluga) and, in small quantities, smoked (hot smoked).

Beluga caviar, processed granularly and packaged in special tins, is a high-quality fish product.

Caviar is also prepared using the so-called barrel grain processing.

During pressed processing, beluga caviar is mixed with sturgeon or stellate sturgeon.

From the notochord (“dorsal string”) of the beluga they prepare valuable food product, known as vyazigi.

The dried swim bladder is used to make beluga glue, which is used to clarify wines and is also used for technical purposes.

Beluga entrails (stomach, intestines and connective tissues of the ovary - “punches”, but not the liver) are consumed fresh at the hunting sites.

Beluga skin can be used after appropriate processing as a half-shaft and sole product for women's and children's shoes.

Beluga is a freshwater fish that has survived to this day from ancient times. Its ancestors existed on earth back in Jurassic period, which was 200 million years ago.

This is the largest of all freshwater fish that has ever existed on our planet. Its body can reach a length of about five meters, and it can weigh about two tons.

This one giant fish there is only one relative - the kaluga, which lives in the Far Eastern rivers.

The body of the beluga is shaped like a torpedo, it narrows towards the tail, and along its sides there are five rows of bone plates, which are also called scutes, the task of which is to protect the fish from external influences. The upper part of this fish is greenish or dark gray in color, and its belly is usually white.

The beluga's muzzle has a peculiar shape: its lower part is elongated and slightly upturned. It is on this part of it that the antennae are located, which have the functions of the olfactory organs. Behind them is a mouth shaped like a sickle. Heterogeneous representatives of this species do not differ from each other in color. But females are larger than males in size.

The main habitat of the beluga is the Caspian Sea, although it can also be found in other seas - for example, the Azov, Black or Adriatic. But as the spawning period approaches, the beluga leaves salty waters and goes upstream freshwater rivers, and rises quite high along them. Belugas lead a solitary lifestyle, making exceptions only during the spawning period in order to mate.

Egg spawning occurs in the spring, and not every year. Typically, this fish requires a break of 2 to 4 years. After the female rises up the river, she lays a huge number of eggs - from three hundred thousand to seven and a half million. After which he considers his mission completed and returns back to the sea. Young beluga whales hatch around May-June and immediately display their predatory nature to the fullest extent. Small invertebrates become their main food at this time. So, refreshing themselves along the way, beluga whales gradually move towards the sea. In a month they grow to 7-10 cm, and in a year - up to 1 meter.

Under favorable circumstances, a female can spawn about nine times in her life. But the fact that this fish and its caviar are of enormous commercial value does not allow it to live, in most cases, even half of the time allotted to it by nature. They catch it both legally and illegally.

Beluga is a fish that is included in the sturgeon family. Due to overfishing of beluga sturgeon, this species of sturgeon is endangered. Perhaps this is the largest fish found in freshwater bodies.

Appearance

Beluga differs from other sturgeon species by its overly large mouth, which is shaped like half a moon. The entire lower part of the beluga's snout is occupied by the fish's mouth. She has antennae that are flattened on the sides. And under the interbranchial space there is a free fold. It is formed from gill membranes that are fused together.

There are bugs on the beluga's back. The first bug, the one near the head, has smallest sizes. Small granules and plates can be distinguished between the bugs on fish skin. And on the long mustache there are small leaf-shaped appendages. The beluga's body is very thick and has a cylindrical shape. The fish has a gentle nose, which has been compared to a pig's snout. The beluga's body is ash-gray, but the belly is much lighter than the back. The maximum weight of a beluga can be up to 1500 kilograms or more. In this case, the body length can be about 6 meters.

Distribution and migrations

It is impossible to say definitely where the beluga is found: it is an anadromous fish. It spawns in freshwater bodies of water - rivers, where it swims from the seas. Large individuals can only find food in the sea. The fish lives in the following seas: Black, Azov and Caspian. In the recent past, the number of beluga was large, but the fish was so valuable that beluga fishing did not stop. In addition, female large sturgeons are caught specifically to collect expensive black caviar.

In the waters of the Caspian Sea, fish can be found almost everywhere. Most of the fish swim to the Volga for spawning. The rest of the beluga swims to the Terek, Kura and Ural. In the old days, spawning fish rose along the Volga all the way to the city of Tver and to the upper reaches of the Kama River. In the Ural River it spawned everywhere except upstream. Beluga was also seen near the Iranian coast of the southern Caspian Sea, and it went to the Gorgan River to spawn. From 1961 to 1989, the fish swam to the city of Volgograd. A special fish lift was built for her at the local waterworks. However, he worked extremely unsatisfactorily. Ultimately, in 1989, the USSR considered the beluga fish lift unnecessary and stopped using it. Along the Kura River, fish approach the Kura cascade of hydroelectric power stations, which is located in Azerbaijan. Single individuals were seen in Southern Bug. A beluga was also spotted in the Black Sea near the Crimean coast near Yalta. Here, a beluga was spotted at a depth of up to 180 meters, that is, in places where hydrogen sulfide is present. It was also spotted near the Caucasian shores, from where it swam into the Rioni River to spawn. Near the Turkish shores, she went to spawn in the Yesilirmak and Kyzylyrmak rivers. In the Dnieper River between Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye there were also quite large specimens weighing up to 300 kilograms. Extreme occurrences of beluga were observed near Kiev and above. She swam along the Desna River to Cherry, and along the Sozh River she swam to Gomel. Here in 1870 a fish weighing 295 kilograms was caught. Most belugas swim from the Black Sea to the Danube River to spawn. In the past, fish traveled along the Danube to Serbia, and in the very distant past reached the city of Passau, which is located in Bavaria.

Diet

Big fish need a lot of food. There is not enough food in the rivers for huge sturgeons, so adult individuals go to the sea to feed. Beluga prefers to stay in the water column for different depths, which depends on the distribution area of ​​organisms that go into food sturgeon fish. In the Black Sea, individuals penetrate 160-180 meters deep, and in the Caspian Sea they are rarely found deeper than 100-140 meters. The youngest individuals of large sturgeons use invertebrates that live on the seabed. But as soon as the body length of beluga cubs reaches 9-10 centimeters, they begin to hunt small fish. At first, beluga cubs prefer to live in shallow waters near river mouths, which are well warmed up by the sun. As the fish grows, they move deeper into the sea.

The sizes of beluga sturgeons of the same age can differ significantly. It depends on the diet. The largest individuals are those that switched to feeding earlier than others. small fish. The larger the beluga, the larger its prey becomes: anchovy, herring, gobies and fish belonging to the carp family. Adult fish can hunt both in the water column and on the seabed.

Reproduction

Beluga lives for a very long time, almost 100 years. However, few individuals survive to this age, as they often become prey for fishermen. This fish, like other large and long-lived animals, is characterized by later puberty. Males become sexually mature at the age of 12 to 14 years, and females from 16 to 18 years. Individuals of the Azov beluga mature the fastest. Those fish that have reached sexual maturity swim from the sea to rivers, where they subsequently reproduce. Migration against the flow of a river is called catadromous (translated from Greek as “running up”), and migration along the flow of water is usually called anadromous (“running down”). Once upon a time, a beluga traveled like this for a very long time. In the 19th century, it began its journey from the Caspian Sea, rising high along the Volga River and sailing to its tributaries. Fishermen caught this fish near Tver, in the Kama, Oka and Vyatka rivers. Depending on what time of year the beluga entered the river, it is customary to distinguish between the autumn and spring races of this fish. The spring race enters the river at the end of January until mid-May, and the autumn race begins its movement in August and until the beginning of December. The beluga of the spring run spawns, as a rule, in early June of the same year it entered the river, and the fish of the autumn run winters in deep river holes. Belugas breed in the autumn season next spring. The same individual reproduces at intervals of several years. For spawning, this fish chooses deep places with rocky ridges and pebble deposits, where the river flow is fast enough. Males swim to the spawning grounds a little earlier than females. Beluga eggs are fertilized in the same way as the main mass. bony fish, externally During the spawning period, you can observe fish jumping out of the water. Most likely, the fish does this in order to facilitate the release of eggs. The number of eggs laid by the female varies from 200,000 to 8,000,000 oval eggs, which are 3.3-3.8 mm in diameter and dark gray in color. Beluga eggs are very sticky, which helps them stick well to the stones. If the water temperature is from 12.6 to 13.8 degrees Celsius, then incubation period is 8 days. The fry hatched from the eggs almost instantly switch to higher nutrition. The hatched beluga fry immediately begin to roll into the sea.

The biggest fish

Beluga is the most big fish, which can be caught in fresh water. Beluga fishing has been going on for a long time. No wonder they say that “sturgeon is the royal fish.” The largest beluga caught is presented in the National Museum of the Tatarstan Republic. The length of the fish was 4 meters and 17 centimeters, and the weight was equal to 1 ton.

In fact, the sturgeon from Tatarstan is not the largest beluga that was caught from the river. There are cases when fishermen were lucky enough to catch individuals about 9 meters in length. The mass of freshwater monsters was approximately 2 tons. Currently, giant sturgeon cannot be found, since the pace of beluga fishing does not allow the fish to gain a mass of more than 200 kilograms. In history, there are known cases of catching the following record specimens:

• In the lower reaches of the Volga River in 1827, a beluga weighing 1,500 kilograms was caught;
• In 1992, on May 11, a female beluga was caught in the Caspian Sea near the Volga mouth, which weighed 1224 kilograms. The weight of its caviar was 146 kilograms and 500 grams, the beluga's head weighed 288 kilograms, and its body 667 kilograms;
• In the Caspian Sea near Biryuchya Spit, two years later a beluga was caught, approximately the same weight as the previous one. But in her body there were 246 kilograms of caviar, which amounted to almost 8 million eggs;
• Two years later, a beluga sturgeon, 75 years old, was caught near the mouth of the Urals. Her weight was more than 1000 kilograms. The body length was 4 meters and 24 centimeters. The mass of the caviar was 190 kilograms.

Beluga - the giant of the 20th century

In the autumn of 1891, the wind stole water from the Taganrog Bay, which belonged to Sea of ​​Azov. A peasant walked past the shore that was freed from water and discovered that an Azov beluga was lying in a puddle. Its weight was 327 kilograms, which is equivalent to 20 pounds. The weight of beluga caviar was 49 kilograms, or 3 pounds. This Azov beluga does not have such a record weight for that time, but for modern fishermen an individual of this weight would be a dream fish.

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. Because of gigantic size Beluga is the largest freshwater fish. Which is probably not surprising, since this species is unusually ancient. Sturgeons are more than 200 million years old, when very big fish and animals. Just look at the Danube Beluga - a relative of dinosaurs. So, What is the weight of the largest beluga on Earth?

In 1827, a beluga weighing one and a half tons, that is, 1,500 kilograms, was caught in the lower reaches of the Volga. Just imagine, this weight is comparable to the weight of some whales. Thus, a narwhal whale weighs about 940 kilograms, and a killer whale weighs 3,600 kilograms. That is, this fish weighed as much as half an orca and more than a narwhal!

On average, a standard beluga weighs about 19 kilograms(fish weight typical for the Northern Caspian). In the past, the average weight of beluga on the Volga was about 70-80 kg, in the Danube habitat of the Black Sea region - 50-60 kg, in the Sea of ​​​​Azov the fish weighed 60-80 kg. But in the Don delta, males weighed 75-90 kg, and females - as much as 166 kilograms. Even the average weight already speaks of the enormous size and heaviness of this fish.

However, the average weight of most individuals in the population does not even come 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 weighing 1224 kilograms, that is, 1.2 tons, was caught! At the same time, there were 667 kilograms 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, beluga lays millions of eggs! In 1924, a female of the same weight of 1.2 tons was caught on the Biryucha Spit in the Caspian Sea. At the same time, 246 kilograms of weight were in the caviar. Total eggs amounted to 7.7 million!

One female can carry up to 320 kilograms of caviar. Beluga carries them in itself until spring spawning. While waiting for him, the female spends the winter in the rivers, hibernating and becoming 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.

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

Records giant belugas does 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.

The Beluga, a stuffed animal of which is kept in the National Museum of 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 record weight the largest belugas kept decreasing and no longer exceeded a ton. In 1970, an 800-kilogram beluga was caught on the Volga, which contained 112 kg of caviar. There, in 1989, a fish weighing 966 kg was caught. Now it is kept in the Astrakhan Museum.