Sustainably farmed caviar is now available, but Doukakis explained that even if maximum protections were put in place for wild beluga sturgeon, it would take a long time for younger individuals to mature and reach their maximum lengths. 'An old female that achieved that kind of a length could be loaded with caviar and could be a very, very expensive, very lucrative fish to poach,' she said. ($8,000/kg), according to the IUCN.ĭoukakis, who is also co-chair of the IUCN Sturgeon Specialist Group, thinks it's possible that there are 23-foot-plus belugas out there, but they would have a significant bounty on their heads. Adult females are prized for their fish eggs, which are sold as caviar and valued at more than $3,500/lbs.

They aim to reintroduce the fish into Italian rivers, after it became locally extinct due to overfishing and the construction of dams in the country.īeluga sturgeon are listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the category for species most at risk of extinction. 'The species is under great pressure due to poaching, and probably the large animals have all been caught.'Ĭongiu and his colleagues published a paper in January 2021 about the distribution and genetic diversity of beluga populations in the journal Diversity and Distributions. 'I don't think there are beluga of that size any more,' Congiu told Live Science in an email. However, today's beluga sturgeon may not be reaching lengths upward of 23 feet (7 m). Their vast size could also help them catch prey and survive predation interactions, according to Leonardo Congiu, an associate professor of ecology at the University of Padova in Italy. Larger sturgeon individuals probably had greater reproductive success, perhaps because the females can generate more eggs than smaller female fish. The beluga is the biggest of the 27 sturgeon and paddlefish species alive today.Īpart from their long lifespan, it's difficult to say exactly why belugas grow so big.

Sturgeon have existed for more than 250 million years and even lived alongside the dinosaurs.

Biggest fish in the planet