Hybrid Sturgeon
By Graham Quick & Terry White
Hybrid sturgeons as with many animals are bred to get the best from both parents and hopefully leave the bad behind. A very common sturgeon hybrid is a Bester, which is a cross between a Beluga and a Sterlet. This hybrid offers the growth of the Beluga and the early age of sexual maturity from the Sterlet (the good) and it leaves behind the bad, the Beluga's cannibalistic tendencies and the slow growth and poor caviar of the Sterlet.
Video of Besters - Beluga (Huso huso) x Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus) hybrids.
Common hybrids:
- Beluga (Huso huso) x Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus) - Bester
- Diamond (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) x Adriatic (Acipenser naccarii)
- Diamond (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) x Siberian (Acipenser baerii)
- Diamond (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) x Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus)
- Siberian (Acipenser baerii) x Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus)
- Siberian (Acipenser baerii) x Adriatic (Acipenser naccarii) - Baccari
Natural hybrids often occur in the wild, as many species share the same spawning grounds. One common natural hybrids is a cross between the Pallid (Scaphirhynchus albus) and the Shovelnose (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) which both spawn in the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. In the Volga River natural hybrids include a cross between the Diamond (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) and Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus) and a cross between the Diamond (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) and Stellate (Acipenser stellatus).
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Diamond Sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) x Adriatic Sturgeon (Acipenser naccarii) hybrid
All sturgeon species can be crossed with each other but not all hybrids are fertile. Sturgeon species can be divided into two groups according to the number of chromosomes.
Group one is diploid, having ± 120 chromosomes:
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Group two is tetraploid, having ± 240 chromosomes:
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Hybrids of species within the same group are fertile but hybrids between the two groups are triploid (160-180 chromosomes) and are sterile.