Reproduction features of sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus Linnaeus, 1758) in the Mansurovsky Fish Farm

Abstract

The study presents the technology of reproduction and characteristics of the Volga population of sterlet in the Mansurovsky Fish Farm in the Istra District of the Moscow Region. The farm was created on the basis of abandoned quarries for the aquaculture of sturgeon and other fish species. The conditions of breeding include keeping spawners in cages in quarries throughout the year, transferring them to the workshop for the spawning campaign (in late April or early May). Fry are raised in the workshop pools during the summer season, and then transferred to cages for further growing or sold. According to the results of the 2025 spawning campaign, starlet spawners (aged 5–7 years) had the following fish-breeding and biological indicators: average weight – 2.43 kg, average weight of eggs obtained from one spawner – 342.0 ± 38.09 g, average working fertility – 36.42 ± 3.81 thousand eggs, relative fertility – 15.35 ± 1.6 thousand eggs/kg of body weight, average weight of one oocyte – 9.4 ± 0.2 mg, gametosomatic index (GSI) – 14.3 ± 1.55%. The reproductive indicators of starlet spawners from the Mansurovsky Fish Farm were higher compared to data from the Konakovsky Sturgeon Breeding Farm (Department “Konakovsky” of the Branch for Freshwater Fisheries of the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography), where fish were raised in flowing pools with warm water.