Sturgeon

Sturgeons are 27 fish species in the family Acipenseridae, long-lived, late-maturing fish with a shark-like heterocercal tail fin and bodies armored with five lateral rows of bony plates called scutes, living in subtropical to subarctic waters across Eurasia and North America. They are among the largest fish species and can live more than 100 years; the record holder, a beluga sturgeon caught in 1827, measured 7.2 meters and weighed 1,571 kilograms. Sturgeon roe is processed into caviar, a luxury delicacy whose demand has made caviar-producing sturgeons among the most valuable and endangered wildlife resources; 19th-century America once controlled 90 percent of the global caviar trade before populations collapsed. Today more than 85 percent of sturgeon species are at risk of extinction, a higher share than any other animal group, threatened by overfishing, poaching, habitat destruction and dams blocking their migration.