''Acipenser'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

sturgeons Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous, and are descended from other, earlier acipenseriform fish, which date back to the Early ...

. With 17 living species (others are only known from

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

remains), it is the largest genus in the order

Acipenseriformes Acipenseriformes is an order of basal ray-finned fishes that includes living and fossil sturgeons and paddlefishes (Acipenseroidei), as well as the extinct families Chondrosteidae and Peipiaosteidae. They are the second earliest diver ...

. The genus is

paraphyletic In taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In ...

, containing all sturgeons that do not belong to ''

Huso ''Huso'' is a genus of large sturgeons from Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Ib ...

'', ''

Scaphirhynchus ''Scaphirhynchus'' is a genus of sturgeons native to the United States of America. All species in this genus are considered to be threatened. The pallid sturgeon is Endangered and the Alabama sturgeon is Critically Endangered. Distribution Memb ...

,'' or ''

Pseudoscaphirhynchus ''Pseudoscaphirhynchus'' is a genus of relatively small, highly threatened sturgeons that are restricted to the Aral Sea system (although extirpated from the Aral Sea itself), including the Amu Darya and Syr Darya river basins, in Central Asia. ...

,'' with many species more closely related to the other three genera than they are to other species of ''Acipenser''. They are native to freshwater and estuarine systems of Eurasia and North America, and most species are

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of '' critical depe ...

. Several species also known to enter near-shore marine environments in the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans.

Living species

There are 17 living species: *''

Acipenser baerii The Siberian sturgeon (''Acipenser baerii'') is a species of sturgeon in the family Acipenseridae. It is most present in all of the major Siberian river basins that drain northward into the Kara, Laptev and East Siberian Seas, including the Ob ...

'' J. F. Brandt, 1869 **''

Acipenser baerii baerii The Siberian sturgeon (''Acipenser baerii'') is a species of sturgeon in the family Acipenseridae. It is most present in all of the major Siberian river basins that drain northward into the Kara, Laptev and East Siberian Seas, including the Ob ...

'' J. F. Brandt, 1869 (Siberian sturgeon) **''

Acipenser baerii baicalensis The Siberian sturgeon (''Acipenser baerii'') is a species of sturgeon in the family Acipenseridae. It is most present in all of the major Siberian river basins that drain northward into the Kara, Laptev and East Siberian Seas, including the Ob ...

'' A. M. Nikolskii, 1896 (Baikal sturgeon) **''

Acipenser baerii stenorrhynchus ''Acipenser'' is a genus of sturgeons. With 17 living species (others are only known from fossil remains), it is the largest genus in the order Acipenseriformes. The genus is paraphyletic, containing all sturgeons that do not belong to ''Huso'', ' ...

'' A. M. Nikolskii, 1896 *''

Acipenser brevirostrum The shortnose sturgeon (''Acipenser brevirostrum'') is a small and endangered species of North American sturgeon. The earliest remains of the species are from the Late Cretaceous Period, over 70 million years ago.National Oceanic and Atmospheri ...

'' Lesueur, 1818 (Shortnose sturgeon) *''

Acipenser dabryanus Dabry's sturgeon (''Acipenser dabryanus''), also known as the Yangtze sturgeon, Chiangjiang sturgeon and river sturgeon, is a species of fish in the sturgeon family, Acipenseridae.Zhuang, P., et al. (1997)Biology and life history of Dabry's stu ...

'' A. H. A. Duméril, 1869 (Yangtze sturgeon) *''

Acipenser fulvescens The lake sturgeon (''Acipenser fulvescens''), also known as the rock sturgeon, is a North American temperate freshwater fish, one of about 25 species of sturgeon. Like other sturgeons, this species is a bottom feeder with evolutionarily basal tr ...

Rafinesque Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; October 22, 1783September 18, 1840) was a French 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ultimat ...

, 1817 (Lake sturgeon) *'' Acipenser gueldenstaedtii'' J. F. Brandt &

Ratzeburg Ratzeburg (; Low German: ''Ratzborg'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is surrounded by four lakes—the resulting isthmuses between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the district Herzogtu ...

, 1833 (Russian sturgeon) *''

Acipenser medirostris The green sturgeon (''Acipenser medirostris'') is a species of sturgeon native to the northern Pacific Ocean, from China and Russia to Canada and the United States. Description Sturgeons are among the largest and most ancient of ray finn ...

'' Ayres, 1854 (Green sturgeon) *''

Acipenser mikadoi The Sakhalin sturgeon (''Acipenser mikadoi'') is a species of fish in the family Acipenseridae. It is found in Japan and Russia. Environment The Sakhalin sturgeon is known to be found in either a marine or freshwater environment within demersal ...

'' Hilgendorf, 1892 (Sakhalin sturgeon) *''

Acipenser naccarii The Adriatic sturgeon (''Acipenser naccarii'') is a species of fish in the family Acipenseridae. It is native to the Adriatic Sea and large rivers which flow in it of Albania, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slov ...

'' Bonaparte, 1836 (Adriatic sturgeon) *'' Acipenser nudiventris'' Lovetsky, 1828 (Fringebarbel sturgeon) *'' Acipenser oxyrinchus'' Mitchill, 1815 **'' Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi'' Vladykov, 1955 (Gulf sturgeon) **'' Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus'' Mitchill, 1815 (Atlantic sturgeon) *'' Acipenser persicus''

Borodin Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin ( rus, link=no, Александр Порфирьевич Бородин, Aleksandr Porfir’yevich Borodin , p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr pɐrˈfʲi rʲjɪvʲɪtɕ bərɐˈdʲin, a=RU-Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin.ogg, ...

, 1897 (Persian sturgeon) *'' Acipenser ruthenus''

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologi ...

(Sterlet, Sterlet sturgeon) *'' Acipenser schrenckii'' J. F. Brandt, 1869 (Japanese sturgeon) *''

Acipenser sinensis The Chinese sturgeon (''Acipenser sinensis''; ) is a critically endangered member of the family Acipenseridae in the order Acipenseriformes. Historically, this anadromous fish was found in China, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula, but it has be ...

J. E. Gray John Edward Gray, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoology, zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray ...

, 1835 (Chinese sturgeon) *'' Acipenser stellatus''

Pallas Pallas may refer to: Astronomy * 2 Pallas asteroid ** Pallas family, a group of asteroids that includes 2 Pallas * Pallas (crater), a crater on Earth's moon Mythology * Pallas (Giant), a son of Uranus and Gaia, killed and flayed by Athena * Pa ...

, 1771 (Starry sturgeon) *'' Acipenser sturio''

(European sea sturgeon) *''

Acipenser transmontanus White sturgeon (''Acipenser transmontanus'') is a species of sturgeon in the family Acipenseridae of the order Acipenseriformes. They are an anadromous fish species ranging in the Eastern Pacific; from the Gulf of Alaska to Monterey, California. ...

'' J. Richardson, 1836 (White sturgeon)

Fossil species

There are 10 species known from fossil remains: * †''

Acipenser albertensis ''Acipenser'' is a genus of sturgeons. With 17 living species (others are only known from fossil remains), it is the largest genus in the order Acipenseriformes. The genus is paraphyletic, containing all sturgeons that do not belong to ''Huso'', ' ...

'' Lambe 1902 * †'' Acipenser cruciferus'' (Cope 1876) *†''

Acipenser eruciferus ''Acipenser'' is a genus of sturgeons. With 17 living species (others are only known from fossil remains), it is the largest genus in the order Acipenseriformes. The genus is paraphyletic, containing all sturgeons that do not belong to ''Huso'', ...

'' Cope 1876 *''

'' Rafinesque, 1817 (also living) *†'' Acipenser gigantissimus'' Nessov 1997 *†''

Acipenser molassicus ''Acipenser'' is a genus of sturgeons. With 17 living species (others are only known from fossil remains), it is the largest genus in the order Acipenseriformes. The genus is paraphyletic, containing all sturgeons that do not belong to ''Huso'' ...

'' Probst 1882 *†'' Acipenser ornatus'' Leidy 1873 *'' Acipenser oxyrinchus'' Mitchell 1815 (also living) *†''

Acipenser tuberculosus ''Acipenser'' is a genus of sturgeons. With 17 living species (others are only known from fossil remains), it is the largest genus in the order Acipenseriformes. The genus is paraphyletic, containing all sturgeons that do not belong to ''Huso'', ...

'' Probst 1882 * †''

Acipenser toliapicus ''Acipenser'' is a genus of sturgeons. With 17 living species (others are only known from fossil remains), it is the largest genus in the order Acipenseriformes. The genus is paraphyletic, containing all sturgeons that do not belong to ''Huso' ...

'' Agassiz 1844 ex Woodward 1889

References

External links

* * * Ray-finned fish genera Extant Campanian first appearances Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Freshwater fish genera {{Acipenseriformes-stub