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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

BUREAU OF FISHERIES
HUGH M. SMITH, Commissioner

ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF STURGEON.

REVIEW OF STURGEON CULTURE IN THE
UNITED STATES

By GLEN C. LEACH
Assistant in Charge Division of Fish Culture
U.S. Bureau of Fisheries

and

ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF STURGEON IN RUSSIA

By NICOLAS A. BORODIN
Formerly Chief Specialist in Fish Culture
Russian Department of Agriculture

APPENDIX III TO THE REPORT OF THE U. S. COMMISSIONER
OF FISHERIES FOR 1919

Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 880

PRICE, 5 CENTS

Sold only by the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office
Washington, D. C.

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1920

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ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF STURGEON.

Part 1. REVIEW OF STURGEON CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES.

By GLen C. LEACH,
Assistant in Charge Division of Fish Culture, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries.

A number of attempts have been made in the United States at
various times to propagate the sturgeon by the artificial manipulation
of the eggs, but in every instance they have been rendered practically
null by certain unusually persistent difficulties. An account of the
efforts may be of interest and value, particularly in view of the fact,
as appears from the accompanying paper of Prof. N. A. Borodin,
formerly connected with the Russian department of agriculture, that
most of these obstacles were overcome in the course of some experi-
mental work performed under his direction as chief specialist in
fish culture in that department.

The first attempt at sturgeon propagation by a representative of
the United States Government was in 1888 at Delaware City, Del.,
in the course of an investigation of the sturgeon fishery by Dr. John
A. Ryder (Bulletin, U. S. Fish Commission, 1888), but experiments
ulong that line had been conducted by Seth Green at New Hamburg,
N. Y., as early as 1875, and were described by him in his book en-
titled “ Fish Hatching and Fish Catching,” published at Rochester in
1879.

The eggs for the experiment at Delaware City were obtained from
fish landed for the market. A number of such fish were examined,
but of the various lots of eggs secured only one small lot was suc-
cessfully hatched. In this instance they were taken by opening the
female fish, and after fertilization had been accomplished by the
application of milt secured in the customary manner, the eggs were
spread in a single layer over the cheesecloth bottoms of shallow boxes
and anchored in a small sluiceway where there was a constant current
of water. .

The same drawbacks—viz; difficulty in finding ripe eggs and milt
at the same time, imperfect aeration of the eggs during the incuba-

tion period, and the unusual tendency of the eggs to develop fungus—
were again encountered in the course of a second attempt to propa-
gate sturgeon at Delaware City by Dr. Bashford Dean in 1893. The
work of that year disclosed the feasibility of using as a fertilizing
medium milt secured by the removal of testes from male fish which

144957°—20 3

4 ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF STURGEON.

were not sufficiently matured to void the secretion by the applica-
tion of external pressure. The milt was separated from the cut
testes by straining through a coarse cloth and proved just as effec-
tive as that taken from live fish, even after being held for several
minutes in the rubber-bulb container. In an effort to overcome
past troubles, the style of hatching apparatus was changed. The
eggs were spread evenly under water on shallow trays in boxes
whose sides and bottoms were covered with metal gauze. The ne-
cessity for quick handling soon became apparent, as the viscid nature
of the eggs causes them to cling so firmly to any surface with which
they come in contact that they are invariably injured in the attempt
to loosen them, and it was found that if not placed on the trays
within 10 or 15 minutes after being fertilized they would form into
a gluelike mass, which speedily became compact and hard. After
allowing sufficient time for the eggs to become firmly attached, the
trays containing them were fitted into the boxes and anchored in
various places in the river bed.

By the end of the second day thereafter the eges in the boxes,
which had been moored in marginal waters having a sluggish cur-
rent and carrying much silt, were found to be entirely enveloped
in fungus and dead. Those placed where the water current was
strong and comparatively free from sediment had sustained a loss
of 60 per cent by the close of the fifth day from the same cause,
while those which had been installed in a strong current in salt
water showed practically no fungoid growth and were hatched in
good condition.

In the spring of 1890 Frank N. Clark, superintendent of the
Northville (Mich.) station, made preparations for the collection of
sturgeon eggs at Fox Island, Mich., and under his direction 142
female and 32 male fish were examined between May 26 and June 14.
Examination showed that 23 of the females had already spawned,
98 were very immature, the eggs in 6 were nearly ripe, and 5 were in
spawning condition. Of the males 21 were hard, 2 almost mature,
and 9 entirely so. In all, 20,000 eggs were secured and fertilized
by cutting open and squeezing the milt sacs after moistening them
with water. Much difficulty was experienced from adhesion, three
hours of constant stirring being required to break up and separate
the bunches of eggs. Ninety-five per cent of them were developed
to the eyed stage, but shortly afterwards a growth of fungus began
spreading in the floating boxes in which they were being incubated,
and, as a result, very few of the eggs were hatched. Had it been
possible to incubate them in whitefish jars it is estimated that at
least 85 per cent would have been saved.

In the course of experimental work conducted in 1901 on the Mis-
sisquol and Lamoille Rivers, tributary to Lake Champlain, efforts
were made to hold green sturgeon in artificial inclosures for ripening.
These’ efforts proved utterly futile, as in every instance the eggs
caked together in a hard mass and development was arrested. Not-.
withstanding the great difficulty experienced in securing ripe eggs
and milt together, 1,500,000 eggs were taken and fertilized, and
their viscosity was effectively overcome by the method that is em-
ployed for the separation of pike-perch eggs. They were then suc-
cessfully hatched in McDonald jars, the incubation period being

ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF STURGEON. 5

about six days in a water temperature of 65° F. The fish from which
they were secured were taken especially for the work, and their vio-
lent struggles when caught frequently resulted in the loss of many
of their eggs. Such losses were unavoidable, as it was possible to
distinguish a ripe female only when the eggs ran from it after it was
taken from the water.

In 1911 experimental sturgeon propagation was undertaken in
Minnesota in the Lake of the Woods region. In advance of the
season’s run of fish an inclosure large enough to hold 30 adult stur-
geon was constructed in Rainy River, and a hatching apparatus of
sufficient capacity to accommodate 3,000,000 eggs and fry was set
up in a convenient building. During the spring 16 sturgeon were
captured in a pound net and transferred to the pen. Though held
for several months under apparently favorable conditions, they
failed to mature, and in the following October they were released
without having produced any eggs. Another trial was made in the
following year with the same results.

From the observations made it was concluded that sturgeon do not
spawn until the water has attained a temperature of 60° F.; that
the eggs do not ripen in fish held in confinement; and that unless
nearly ripe males are available when the eggs are taken no results
can be expected. The spawning season at the various grounds has
always been short, seldom exceeding three or four days. It is be-
lieved that jars similar to those used in the propagation of white-
fish and pike perch are the most suitable form of equipment for the
development of sturgeon eggs.

Part 2. ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF STURGEON IN RUSSIA.

By Nicortas A. Boropin,
Formerly Chief Specialist in Fish Culture, Russian Department of Agriculture.

Kvery fish-culturist knows how difficult it has been to secure any
genuine success in the artificial propagation of any species of stur-
geon of the genus Acipenser. There must be acknowledged almost.
complete failure in both America and Europe as far as practical re-
sults go. One drawback has been the dirficulty of keeping sturgeon
eggs alive and sound, owing to their lability to be attacked and
killed by Saprolegnia and other kinds of fungus. Yet another and
very serious matter has been the scarcity of sturgeon in the rivers
and lakes; in fact, these fish in many waters have become practically
exterminated, and there has been no possibility of securing ripe eggs.

While America and western Europe have lost most of their stur-
geon supplies, Russia still remains rich in sturgeons, especially the
rivers emptying into the Caspian Sea—the Volga, the Kura, and the
Ural. Even in these waters, however, there has occurred positive
diminution in the number of sturgeon, and it is the general belief
that, in order to prevent the entire extermination of these fish, it is
quite necessary to resort to artificial propagation on a large scale.

Just prior to the outbreak of the war the central administration
of the fisheries in Russia received a special appropriation for stur-
geon propagation. Three of the commercial species were selected for
attention, namely, Acipenser ruthenus, a small fish living in the Volga;
and A. guldenstadti, a Russian sturgeon and A. stellatws, or starry
sturgeon, both living in the Caspian Sea and ascending the Volga,
Kura, and Ural Rivers in spring. Temporary stations for the propa-
gation of A. ruthenus were established and operated in the Volga in
1913, 1914, and 1915; one station for the propagation of A. gulden-
stadti was erected on the Ural in 1915, and another on the Kura in
1914, for handling both the starry and the Russian sturgeons.

There are not at hand the exact data on the work accomplished as
regards the number of eggs hatched and fry planted, but the figures
for A. ruthenus run into tens of thousands and for A. stellatus and A.
guidenstadti into several hundreds of thousands. Most of the fry
were planted several days after hatching, but a considerable number
of fry of the Russian sturgeon were reared for several months, and
some specimens were carried in an aquarium for five or six months,
until they became too large for their quarters.

There have been some interesting developments in sturgeon propa-
gation in Russia in the past few years, and I will try to describe the
methods employed.

6

ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF STURGEON. 7

Two of the most important deductions from the investigations
made during the experimental work are that sturgeon eggs become
ripe and suitable for impregnation only when the male and female
fish are kept together in the same pond or reservoir and that the
spawning act takes place probably only at night. These two observa-
tions explain, why it has always been very difficult to get ripe eggs
from sturgeons caught during daytime or kept in ponds or inclosures
with the male and female fish in separate compartments.

In our experiments, specimens of A. ruthenus have been held in
large ponds, and their eggs have become ripe. Russian sturgeon have
been retained in a reservoir about 32 feet long, 11 feet wide, and 6
feet deep, supphed with a current of water pumped directly from
the Ural River. One night these fish spawned, and two days later
there were found in the mud at the bottom of the pond thousands of
egos. Some of these fish hatched into healthy fry, but, as is always
the case under natural conditions, most of them had not been fer-
tilized, and therefore they perished.

With regard to artificial propagation of sturgeon, as elaborated
by Russian fish-culturists in the latest work, the methods have been
as follows: As the eggs flow from the female sturgeon they have a
tendency to become united into a glutinous mass, which must at
once be prevented. We received good results by stripping the eggs
into a wire screen, washing them thoroughly with river water, and
then putting them in a tin pan and fertilizing them with milt diluted
with water. Several minutes later, before the eggs had become
sticky, we again washed them thoroughly with river water, which at
this time in the Ural and Kura Rivers is very turbid and of a yellow
color, because of the enormous quantity of clay and sand in suspen-
sion. By such use of muddy river water analogous to the employ-
ment of swamp muck or of starch for overcoming the adhesiveness
of pike-perch eggs in the United States, we counteracted the sticki-
ness of the sturgeon eggs, which thereafter lose that quality and
become easy to handle in any fish-hatching apparatus. We obtained
quite good results in using two very different kinds of apparatus,
namely, the Williamson trough and the Chase jar; but in both cases
we preferred to employ not running water, which is always a little
muddy, but filtered water without circulation and with constant
aeration.

After three or four days of development the eggs hatched, and
thousands of fry were obtained. For the first four or five days the
young do not require any external food, having a sufficient quantity
of nourishment in their yolk sac; but after that period we introduced
into the troughs and jars living food consisting of the smallest
fresh-water crustaceans (Daphnia, Bosmina, etc.) collected in small,
warm waters with fine-meshed nets. The fry soon begin to search
for these crustaceans. When they become larger and accustomed
to take food, we begin to feed with chopped earthworms, of which
young sturgeon are very fond. Fed in this way sturgeon grow very
rapidly, attaining during the first month a length of about 14 inches
and during five months 10 to 11 inches. Fry of two to three months
n° already begun to closely resemble the adults and are very pretty

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