Sturgeon, a name referring to any 
fish belonging to the family 
Acipenseridae, is a family that has 
lasted since the upper Cretaceous 
Period to now. Like other living 
fossils, these fish live long, 
mature late, and have changed little 
during their evolution. With a 
maximum length of about seven meters 
long, these bottom-feeders are quite 
the long creatures. They mainly 
stick around river deltas and 
estuaries but get off their lazy 
butts to migrate upstream for 
spawning. Unlike other bony fishes, 
sturgeons have cartilaginous 
skeletons and are covered in bony 
scutes rather than scales. They have 
four barbels - sensory organs - 
preceding their mouths that they use
to navigate their environment by 
dragging them against the ground. 

Sturgeon feed upon shells, small
fish, and crustaceans by using their
mouths to suck the food up, but 
without teeth, they cannot seize 
prey. They live up to sixty years 
old and spawn for the first time 
around twenty; due to this, many 
species are under threat from 
overfishing and environmental 
pollution. As such, most of the 
sturgeon family is at risk of 
extinction, rendering them more 
endangered than any other family.
Without ceasing illegal fishing, 
humans may see the end of the 
sturgeon come quicker than it 
should naturally.
