Sturgeon Hybrids: Sturgeon Web: Sturgeon Species

Sturgeon Hybrids

Hybrid sturgeons

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.

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

Diamond Sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) x Adriatic Sturgeon (Acipenser naccarii) hybrid

Natural hybrids often occur in the wild, as many species share the same spawning grounds. One common natural hybrid 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).

Hybrid Fertility

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:

Acipenser nudiventris
Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus
Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi
Acipenser ruthenus
Acipenser stellatus
Acipenser sturio
Huso dauricus
Huso huso
Polyodon spathula
Pseudoscaphirhynchus fedtschenkoi
Pseudoscaphirhynchus hermanni
Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni
Scaphirhynchus albus
Scaphirhynchus platorynchus
Scaphirhynchus suttkusi

Group two is tetraploid, having ± 240 chromosomes:

Acipenser baerii
Acipenser brevirostrum
Acipenser dabryanus
Acipenser fulvenscens
Acipenser gueldenstaedtii
Acipenser medirostris
Acipenser mikadoi
Acipenser naccarii
Acipenser persicus
Acipenser schrenckii
Acipenser sinensis
Acipenser transmontanus

Hybrids of species within the same group are fertile but cross breeding between the two groups produces triploid (160-180 chromosomes) hybrids which are sterile. Fertile hybrids can be cross bred again to produce even more variation, which makes the task of identifying hybrids quite difficult.