The American paddlefish, Polyodon spathula (Walbaum), is an endangered acipenserid fish. Its wild populations are supplemented with stocking material that is obtained by conducting artificial spawning in aquaculture conditions. When fish are bred in captivity, it is important to select breeding pairs that will produce the most genetically diverse progeny, since this permits maintaining the fitn...

Some biological aspects of semen were investigated in the Persian sturgeon, Acipenser persicus, by determination of seminal plasma indices (ionic composition and osmolality), sperm density and their relationships with sperm motility. The osmolality of seminal plasma ranged from 42.00 to 111.00 mOsmol Kg-1. The concentrations of Sodium (Na+), Potassium (K+), Chloride (Cl-), Calcium (Ca2+) and Ma...

Serum complement is valuable tool in determining the health status of fish. This study was conducted to examine in vitro activity of serum complement as an indicator of innate immunity in four sturgeon species, Acipenser stellatus, A. baeri, A. nudiventris and Huso huso (Chondrostei: Acipenseridae). The Effects of different temperatures, concentrations and volumes of serum on alternative comple...

Toxicity tests using standard effluent test procedures described by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were conducted with Ceriodaphnia dubia, fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas), and seven threatened and endangered (listed) fish species from four families: (1) Acipenseridae: shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum); (2) Catostomidae; razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus); (3) Cyprini...

Atlantic and shortnose sturgeons are highly valued for their eggs (caviar) and flesh, but stocks of both species are depleted. The shortnose sturgeon is listed as an endangered species, and a long-term (multidecade) moratorium on fishing for Atlantic sturgeon is specified in the recently updated fishery management plan of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Thus, identification, pr...

Animal metabolic rate is variable and may be affected by endogenous and exogenous factors, but such relationships remain poorly understood in many primitive fishes, including members of the family Acipenseridae (sturgeons). Using juvenile lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens), the objective of this study was to test four hypotheses: 1) A. fulvescens exhibits a circadian rhythm influencing metabo...

administering growth hormone increases growth rate of cultured fish. the aim of this study was isolation and synthesize of persian sturgeon gh cdna. the total rna was extracted from pituitary gland of persian sturgeon and cdna was synthesized. the full-length cdna sequence of persian sturgeon contains a 645 nucleotide open reading frame, which encoding a 214 amino acid residues. the position of...