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Past and current status of sturgeons in the upper and middle Danube River

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Sturgeon Biodiversity and Conservation

Part of the book series: Developments in Environmental Biology of Fishes ((DEBF,volume 17))

Synopsis

Of the six species of sturgeons native to the Danube basin, five occurred in the upper and middle Danube. Among anadromous sturgeons were the large winter races of beluga, Huso huso, Russian sturgeon, Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, and stellate sturgeon, A. stellatus which ascended the middle, and sometimes also the upper Danube, to spawn. Due to overfishing, followed by severe habitat alteration including damming and pollution, these anadromous sturgeons are critically endangered or extirpated from the upper and middle Danube. Acipenser gueldenstadtii and A. nudiventris are represented only as resident non-migratory races with very small populations. The most abundant and widely distributed species is the sterlet, A. ruthenus although it is presently limited to the middle Danube. Its population increased in some sections of the middle Danube during the past 15 years, presumably because of improving water quality, but this species remains at risk because of continuing habitat degradation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Mlynská dolina B-I, 842 15, Bratis lava, Slovakia

    Karol Hensel

  2. Department of Ichthyology, Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 842 06, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Juraj Holcík

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Vadim J. Birstein John R. Waldman William E. Bemis

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Hensel, K., Holcík, J. (1997). Past and current status of sturgeons in the upper and middle Danube River. In: Birstein, V.J., Waldman, J.R., Bemis, W.E. (eds) Sturgeon Biodiversity and Conservation. Developments in Environmental Biology of Fishes, vol 17. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-46854-9_9

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