Now it’s hard to believe, but sturgeon species of fish swam in the seas and oceans 200 million years ago. Dinosaurs walked and ran on land, and sturgeon species of fish swam and lived in the water – exactly the same as those that swim now, in our time, in our rivers and seas. Of course, now they are not as big as they were in those distant times – when their length exceeded 7 meters and their weight reached 2000 kg. Now fish of these species do not grow more than 6 meters in length, and the weight of more than 1000 kg is very rare. The last time a Beluga weighing 1224 kg was caught in 1922 in the lower reaches of the Volga River, in the area of the modern city of Volgograd, and the caviar in this Beluga was 147 kg.
The appearance of these ancient fish is really prehistoric and a little terrible: a spade-shaped snout stretched forward, a shark-like tail and a large cartilaginous ridge on the back. Sturgeons feed on quite a variety of things, from worms and insects to smaller fish and crayfish.
For spawning, sturgeon species of fish swim from the seas to fresh rivers.
Females lay millions of eggs at the bottom of the river, and males immediately fertilize them. Fish fry hatch from eggs 7-10 days after fertilization and live in rivers until they grow up and gain strength to live in the sea on their own, and this period lasts for several years. Sturgeons begin to give their first offspring only at the age of 15 – 20 years and are “long-lived” fish, living up to 100 years or more.
The most common types of sturgeon include Beluga, Sturgeon, Sterlet and Sevruga. Due to the fact that sturgeon meat has a delicate and pleasant taste, they began to eat it many centuries ago, but of particular value in these types of fish, of course also has caviar. Everyone calls caviar of sturgeon fish – black caviar, although it is not black at all. The color of black, real caviar varies from light gray to dark gray, or from olive to light brown. It is believed that the lighter the caviar is, the better and nobler it is, since only adult, mature fish can give light caviar. The most expensive “diamond” caviar in the world is white, with an amber-yellow hue, Beluga-Albino caviar. Beluga caviar – Albino seems to be “a scattering of golden beads” because of its golden color. This species of sturgeon lives in the Caspian Sea and is extremely rare.
Due to their value and uncontrolled poaching, the population of sturgeon has declined greatly in the 20th century. In 2007, a ban was passed on the trade in black caviar of wild sturgeon fish, and in 2016 a law was signed to ban the commercial catch of all sturgeon species. Currently, all the caviar and meat of sturgeon fish that we see on the shelves of our stores is the result of industrial breeding of sturgeon fish species on sturgeon farms, where, in conditions of artificial habitat on farms, favorable conditions are created close to natural, in which the fish could comfortably grow and multiply.
In the 21st century, China became the leader in the production of black caviar. There are more than 150 sturgeon farms in the “Celestial Empire”, where sturgeon breeds of fish are grown, from which black caviar is obtained, or as it is called in China – “Black Pearl”. The number of sturgeon complexes is growing from year to year with very strong state support, so China has become a world exporter of black caviar.
Due to the huge number of factories and factories across the country, Chinese rivers are very heavily polluted, fish are fed with antibiotics with growth stimulants for faster growth and so that the fish begin to spawn ahead of schedule. A simple consumer does not know this, the main thing for him is more and cheaper, so now even well-known brands sell Chinese caviar in pursuit of extra profit. Chinese black caviar with a long shelf life, even after the expiration date of storage … does not deteriorate, so this proves that there are so many chemistry in caviar that eating such caviar is not safe for health.
Yes, there is good caviar in China, for example, the world brand Kaluga Queen, but it is very expensive and this is more an exception than a rule for Chinese black caviar.
In general, be careful when buying an expensive delicacy, pay attention to the terms and temperature of storage, the composition of the product.
London Caviar House company offers for sale caviar of Beluga, Russian Sturgeon, Sterlet and Bester (a hybrid of Beluga and Sterlet) grown on the sturgeon complex “Aquatir” in the city of Tiraspol (Transnistria, Moldova). Sturgeon farm “Aquatir” is the largest complex for the production of sturgeon in Europe and the only one in the world to grow natural Beluga black caviar and real Russian Sturgeon.
Black caviar from London Caviar House is a natural product, a symbol of taste and luxury that can delight even the most sophisticated caviar lover.
