A pilot study of two Lower Danube sturgeon species offspring diversity in a feeding area community

Abstract

Current knowledge about sturgeon behavior is incomplete and certain aspects of it are completely unknown, despite tremendous conservation efforts. This paper describes aspects of annual recruitment, fitness distribution and genetic diversity of the offspring of two sturgeon species – Huso huso (beluga sturgeon) and Acipenser stellatus (stellate sturgeon). To ensure a step forward in understanding their behavior in general and offspring ethology in particular, we conducted a pilot study on the 2016 sturgeon offspring diversity in the Lower Danube River, on the rkm 123 feeding area community. Our approach allowed us to draw a hypothesis about offspring behavior that can also be applied in other feeding areas on the Danube River. Namely, from the convergence of the morphological and genetic data, we found that the two studied sturgeon species have distinct and complex downstream migration behavior. Overall, the present paper presents a pilot study in sturgeon behavior that reveals several traits of offspring ethology. However, further analyses are needed to decode the cryptic behavior of sturgeons

Keywords

• Lower Danube
• Huso huso
• Acipenser stellatus
• young of the year
• diversity