Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Sturgeon

STURGEON, or Accipenser Sturio, L. a fish, which is sometimes taken in the British rivers; being, however, generally imported from Russia, or the Baltic sea, as well as from North America: it is principally caught in the rivers Volga, Danube, and Vistula.

This fish grows to a prodigious size, frequently 18 feet in length, and weighing from 7 to 800lbs. Its flesh is very delicate, firm, and white, resembling veal, on which account it is greatly esteemed when roasted: it is, however, generally sold in a pickled state. The sounds of sturgeon afford the fish-glue known under the name of Isinglass; and, their roes, when properly dried and salted, are converted into Caviar, to which article the reader is referred, for an account of its properties.