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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

SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 880

PRICE, 3 CENTS Sold only by the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office Washington, D. C.

WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1919 D. of J. MAR 27 1929

01 SH167 S7L4

ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF STURGEON.

PART I. REVIEW OF STURGEON CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES.

By GLENN 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 made in this country during the last twenty years, with reference to this 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 experimental work conducted 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 was made at Sturgeon Falls, 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 along that line had been conducted by Seth Green at New Hamburg, N. Y., in 1850-51, and by Dr. William H. Burt, who published an article entitled "Fish Hunting and Fish Catching," published at Rochester in 1870.

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 successfully hatched. In this instance they were taken by opening the female and removing the eggs with forceps. In order to avoid this application of mild secures in the customary manner, the eggs were spread in a single layer over the cheesedoth 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 null at the same time, imperfect aeration of the eggs during the incubation period, and failure to secure successful hatching--were again encountered in the course of a second attempt to propagate sturgeon at Delaware City by Dr. Bashford Dean in 1893. The work was conducted under similar conditions as before, but using medium milk secured by the removal of testes from male fish which

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ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF STURGEON.

were not sufficiently matured to void the secretion by the application of external pressure. The milk was separated from the cut testes by means of a centrifugal machine, and was found 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 placed in trays, which were covered with glass plates, 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, caused by the presence of the albumen, made it difficult for them to 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 globules and adhere to each other. To overcome this difficulty, allowing sufficient time for the eggs to become firmly attached, the trays containing them were fitted into the boxes and anchored in various positions.

By the end of the second day thereafter the eggs 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 fungoid growths. The water in which these experiments 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 no such deterioration and remained in a 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 20 and June 14. Examination revealed that 75 females were immature, 67 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 and entirely so. In all, 20,000 eggs were secured and fertilized by cutting them open with a knife and pouring fresh water over them with water. Much difficulty was experienced with adhesion, three hours of constant stirring being required to break up and separate the bunches of eggs. After about two hours' incubation they appeared 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 establish a temperature of 60 degrees F 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- sissippi river at St. Louis, Mo., 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. Notwithstanding this failure, however, by mixing fresh milk with egg and milk together, 150,000 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 strugge was caught by means of a net, instead of by means of nets of their eggs. Such accidents 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 1897 artificial sturgeon propagation was undertaken in Minnesota in the Lake of the Woods region. In advance of the season's run of fish an enclosure large enough to hold 30 adult stur- geons was built. A pen was constructed with a floor of boards and apertures 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 weeks without having produced any eggs, they failed to mature, and in the following October they were released without having produced any eggs. Another trial was made in the following spring with similar 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 maintained at a temperature of 65° F., no eggs 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 this is 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 NICOLAS A. BOROMIS, Formerly Chief Specialist in Fish Culture, Russian Department of Agriculture.

Every fish-culturist knows how difficult it has been to secure any genuine success in the artificial propagation of any species of sturgeon of the genus Acipenser. The results have been acknowledged almost complete failure in both America and Europe as far as practical results go. One drawback has been the difficulty of keeping sturgeon eggs alive until hatching, and the eggs themselves are often 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, owing to over-fishing, and to the use of pipe eggs.

While America and western Europe have lost most of their sturgeons, Russia still remains rich in sturgeon, especially the rivers emptying into the Caspian Sea—the Volga, the Kura, and the Ural. But this richness is rapidly diminishing, and it is the general belief that, in order to prevent the entire extermination of these fish, it is quite necessary to propagate them artificially.

Just prior to the outbreak of the war the central administration of the fisheries in Russia received a special appropriation for sturgeon propagation. Three of the commercial species were selected for attention—A. ruthenus, or European sturgeon; A. keta, or Kala, and A. gutulostadii, a Russian sturgeon and A. stellatus, or starry sturgeon, both living in the Caspian Sea and ascending the Volga, Kura, and Ural rivers. The first station for the propagation of A. ruthenus was established and operated in the Volga in 1913, 1914, and 1915; one station for the propagation of A. gutulostadii was erected on the Ural in 1915, and another on the Kura in 1914, for the propagation of A. keta.

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. gutulostadii and A. keta into 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 spent up to two years in aquarium for five or six months, until they became too large for their quarium.

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

6 ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF STURGEON.

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 have been confirmed by our experiments. The eggs were taken 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. ruthenius have been held in large tanks, in which they became very numerous. Russian sturgeon have been retained in a reservoir about 32 feet long, 11 feet wide, and 6 feet deep, supplied with a current of water pumped directly from the river. In this tank we found that after three days' incubation there were found in the mud at the bottom of the pond thousands of eggs. 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 by their mates.

With regard to artificial propagation of sturgeon, as elaborated by Russian fish-culturists in the latest work, the methods have been as follows: The eggs are placed in a tank, where they develop 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 water, and then placing them in tin pans for fertilizing them with milk diluted with water. Several minutes later, before the eggs had become sticky, we again washed them thoroughly with river water, which at once removed all traces of milk. The fry were then of a beautiful 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 sand for overcoming the adhesiveness of the eggs in the Willamson trough. Under these circumstances the qual- ity of the sturgeon eggs, which thereafter lose that quality and become easy to handle in any fish-hatching apparatus. We obtained quite satisfactory results by employing both methods alternately, 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 fry lived on yolk-sac alone; but after that period we introduced into the troughs and jars living food consisting of the smallest fresh-water crustaceans (Daphnia, Bosmina), collected in small, woven baskets from ponds near our farm. This soon proved sufficient for these crustaceans. When they become larger and accustomed to take food, we began to feed with chopped earthworms, of which young sturgeons eat freely. The fry grow rapidly, attaining during the first month a length of about 1½ inches and during five months 10 to 11 inches. Fry of two to three months have already begun to closely resemble the adults and are very pretty fish.

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