#acipenseriformes

[herpsandbirds]

Gulf Sturgeon (Acipenser desotoi), Acipenseridae, order Acipenseriformes, found in the Gulf of Mexico and rivers that drain into it, from FL to LA, USA

ENDANGERED.

People love the sturgeon. They admire the sturgeon.

photograph by Ryan Hagerty

[zenikiatareal]

Everyone!!! Look at my beautiful sturgeon cake my mom got me from the local bakery!!!

(Missing the dorsal fin but I don’t really care since look how awesome it is holy moly!!)

[bestanimal]

Round 3 - Actinopterygii - Acipenseriformes

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Order: Acipenseriformes

Common Name: “sturgeons” and “paddlefish”

Families: 2 - Acipenseridae (“sturgeons”) and Polyodontidae (“paddlefish”)

Anatomy: weakly ossified skeletons with the majority of bone being replaced by cartilage, larvae have teeth while adults are toothless or nearly toothless, retain the ability to sense electric fields using ampullae, barbels around mouth for tactile sensing, paddlefish is smooth-skinned with a paddle-shaped rostrum, sturgeons protected by rows of scutes

Diet: mollusks, crustaceans, and small fish (sturgeons), zooplankton (paddlefish)

Habitat/Range: subtropical to subarctic waters in North America and Eurasia

Evolved in: Early Jurassic

Do you have a favorite in Acipenseriformes?

One or more of my favorite animals is in Acipenseriformes

I love at least one or more of these animals

I like at least one or more of these animals

I am neutral about all of these animals

I dislike all of these animals

Voting ended onJun 17, 2025

Propaganda under the cut:

Several species of sturgeon are harvested for their roe (eggs), which is processed into the luxury food caviar. This has led to serious overexploitation, which combined with other conservation threats, has brought most of the sturgeon species to critically endangered status, at the edge of extinction.

Many sturgeons leap completely out of the water, usually making a loud splash which can be heard half a mile away on the surface and probably farther under water. Why they do this is not known, but suggested functions include group communication to maintain group cohesion, catching airborne prey, courtship display, to help shed eggs during spawning, escape from predators, shed parasites, or to gulp or expel air. Another explanation is that it "simply feels good".

The critically endangered Beluga Sturgeon (Huso huso) (image 1) is the largest Acipenseriform, the largest freshwater fish, and the 3rd largest species of Actinopterygiian. The largest accepted record is of a female taken in 1827, at 1,571 kg (3,463 lb) and 7.2 m (23 ft 7 in) long. Claims of greater length (up to 12 m [39 ft 4 in]); and weight (up to 3,000 kg [6,600 lb]) are disputed and unconfirmed, but not impossible. Beluga of such great sizes are very old and have become increasingly rare in recent decades because of heavy fishing of the species. Today, mature Belugas that are caught are generally 142–328 cm (4 ft 8 in – 10 ft 9 in) long and weigh 19–264 kg (42–582 lb).

The Chinese Paddlefish (Psephurus gladius) was last seen alive in 2003, and is considered to have quietly gone extinct between 2005 and 2010. At over 3 metres (10 feet), possibly up to 7 m (23 ft) in length, it was one of the largest species of freshwater fish. The Chinese Paddlefish spent part of its adult life at sea, migrating up the Yangtze River to spawn. The construction of the Gezhouba and Three Gorges Dams blocked this migration route, and this, combined with overfishing, caused the Chinese Paddlefish to go extinct. The American Paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) (image 2), native to the Mississippi River basin, is now the last living remnant of this 300-million-year-old family.

A study published in 2020 reported a successful hybridization between a Russian Sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) (image 4) and an American Paddlefish (Polyodon spathula), indicating that the two species could breed with one another despite their lineages having been separated for hundreds of millions of years. This has marked the first successful hybridization between members of Acipenseridae and Polyodontidae, and along with some Passeriform hybridizations, is one of the only known instances of animals from two separate families breeding successfully. Accidentally created by Hungarian scientists, the hybrids were dubbed "sturddlefish."

[fish-facing-forward]

Huso fulvescens

Lake sturgeon

Image source

Status: Endangered

Distribution: Inland waters of eastern North America

[acarinarium]

Do you ever just think about sturddlefish? I do

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

Sturgeon, they are very neat and they feel very smooth but leathery too

I'll pick a random species!

Have you seen the starry sturgeon (Huso stellatus)?

I have now

Yes, in photos/videos

Yes, irl

I'm not sure

Voting ended onDec 15, 2025

The first photo is thanks to Aleksandar on Inaturalist. Critically endangered due to overfishing.

[taxonomytournament]

Taxonomy Tournament: Fish

Polypteridae. This order is made up of reedfish and bichirs, freshwater fish that have lungs, with some species capable of breathing air.

Acipenseriformes. This order is made up of basal fishes with skeletons made mostly of cartilage. It includes sturgeons and paddlefish.

Which clade of animals is better?

Polypteridae

Acipenseriformes

Show results

Voting ended onApr 17, 2024

[mesozoicmarket]

Fossilized fish bones of a Chondrosteus acipenseroides from the Charmouth Mudstone Formation in Church Cliff Bay, Lyme Regis, Dorset, England. This Lower Jurassic aged acipenseriform is a distant relative of today's sturgeon and paddlefish and one of the earliest known taxa of this clade. This specimen was acid prepped out a beach nodule.