Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-10-22
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE,
every LIKE A WHALE

A Remarkable Specimen of the Sturgeon
Family.
Mention was made in yesterdays issue of
a large sturgeon caught on Tuesday by P.
Lucas at Devils Reach. 1t attracted much
attention at Jones & Anderson's market.
where il was exhibited, and where it was
yesterday morning killed and cut up. 1t
proved 10 be female, measuring feet 3
inches in length, and weighing 429 pounds.
The head weighed 10 pounds, measured 10
inches across and feet from the end of the
nose to the back of the gills. The latter
alone weighed 153 pounds. The capture of
the ganoid doubtless deprived many
fish OF other species of large amount of
food, as her spawn weighed IS pounds.
There are two kinds of sturgeon caught in
the river-the white and the green. The
former obtains it's name through
the fact that its flesh is white :;
while the other is named because of
the green tinge in its skin. Its flesh is red.
The fish dissected yesterday was a white
one, but those who watched the cutting I'D
and were not familiar with the subject,
were surprised to see II pounds of meat.
resembling beefsteak, cut from about the
head. 1t was secured with ayidity by
gentleman present, who declared it equal to
pOrter-hOuse steak in tenderness and flavor
The white sturgeon is not as lively as the
green, and makes less trouble for the fisher
men when caught in nets. The very large
ones are logy, and the specimen spoken of
above was secured without much difficulty,
being pulled to the stern of the boat and
stunned by blows on the head, and then
secured with a rope and towed 10 market.
White or green, they are handled easily
n 10 pay Xvn at
their heads, but blow from the tail is de-
cidedly paralyzing. They are very tenacious
OF life. Yesterday morning, after this one
had been killed by having his head bat
tered IN, he gave two or three flops of his
tail while being cut open and the operator
had to exercise his agility to save himself
from being knocked overheard from the
market. Sturgeon not too old is good eat
ing; but, like catfish in some portions of
the East, they are too common to be gen.
orally held in high favor. Nevertheless, as
" sea bass and tenderloin of sole " their
popularity gives evidence that there is
much in a NAME after all said to the
contrary. The common sturgeon of Eu-
rope attalns length of six to ten feet,
sometimes more, is found in the Caspian
and Black Seas and the rivers opening into
them, and sometimes on the coast of Great
Britain and the Baltic. The flesh is deli
cate, has been compared to veal and 1t was
in old times considered a royal dish, and
served with great pomp in ancient Greece
and Rome. There is a larger species found
in the seas or rivers of southeastern Europe,
called the beluga, which attains length of
II to 10 feet, and weight of 200 pounds.
The flesh is tough, and of inferior quality,
but the sound, or air-bladder, furnishes an
abundantsupply of isinglass, for which great
numbers are caught in Russia. Caviare is
made from the roe of the female, which
sometimes constitutes one-third the weight
of the fish, and the skin is used for harness
leather. The steret, found in the Caspian,
grows TO length of only two or three feet,
and furnishes most delicate food and the
best caviare. Some idea of the commercial
importance of this fishery may be gathered
from the fact that in one year, in the
Caspian Sea alone, about S, 800 persons were
employed obtaining 10000 surgeons
yielding . 500 pounds of caviare and 100
pounds of isinglass. In American waters
there is the short nosed sturgeon, attaining
length of from three to seven feet, very
numerous in the Hudson, and so common
that its flesh in the market in that section
is slightingly spoken of as " Albany beef"
Then there is the lake sturgeon, growing to
a length of four feet, which does not
descend to the sea and, among others, the
spoonbil sturgeon, to be found five feet
long, or longer, inhabiting the waters OF
the Mississippi, Ohio and their tributaries.
1t is sometimes called "shovel fish and
paddle fish" The singularly shaped
snout Is used to shovel up the mud in
search of food. The flesh is occasionally
but IL ra fbar tOuOb