Marking fin spine of juvenile sturgeon (acipenseriformes: acipenseridae) using oxytetracycline and the comparing of growth performance

ABSTRACT This study aimed to describe and validate the formation of the rings in the spine of the pectoral fin and to determine the coherence of the OTC mark with the rings of three species of Caspian Sea sturgeon, the Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus), the Starry sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus) and Ship sturgeon (Acipenser nudiventris). Validation was achieved by comparing the total radius of the fin spine of fish of known age after one and two years of growth with the measured radius of the first and second rings in the zone. There was no overlap between the measured radius for the first year and the increase for the second. The Ship sturgeon showed the largest width of the second ring followed by the Persian sturgeon and Stellate sturgeon. The results indicate that the highest growth parameter belongs to the juvenile Ship sturgeon. This research showed that chemically marking the fin spines of juvenile Acipenseridae leads to unbiased estimates and contributes to the knowledge of the population dynamics of these species. The study found that the combination of the dial ring of the pectoral fin spine with growth validated the age estimation in juvenile sturgeon Ship, Persian, and Starry sturgeon.

SPECIFIC FEATURES OF METAL ACCUMULATION IN THE RUSSIAN (ACIPENSER GUELDENSTAEDTII, BRANDT, 1833) AND PERSIAN (ACIPENSER PERSICUS, BORODIN, 1897) STURGEON OF THE CASPIAN SEA

In the course of the research, the biological features of the accumulation of microelements by the organs and tissues of the Persian sturgeon in comparison with the Russian, as well as the regularities of the age accumulation of sturgeon were revealed. Studies of the elemental composition of organs and tissues of the Persian (Acipenser persicus, Borodin, 1897) and Russian (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, Brandt, 1833) sturgeon revealed a number of specific features associated with different rates of metabolic processes in fish: the level of iron, copper, manganese, zinc, and mercury in the Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus) in almost all organs and tissues, it was recorded higher than in the Russian, at the same time, the content of cadmium and cobalt indicates its greater accumulation in the organs and tissues of the Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii).