|
In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
|
STURGEON, n. [Low L., G.] A large fish of the genus Acipenser, caught in large rivers. Its flesh is valued for food.
Any one of numerous species of large
cartilaginous ganoid fishes belonging to Acipenser and allied
genera of the family Acipenseridæ. They run up rivers to
spawn, and are common on the coasts and in the large rivers and lakes
of North America, Europe, and Asia. Caviare is prepared from the roe,
and isinglass from the air bladder.
* The common North American species are Acipenser sturio of the Atlantic coast region, A. transmontanus of the Pacific coast, and A. rubicundus of the Mississippi River and its tributaries. In Europe, the common species is Acipenser sturio, and other well-known species are the sterlet and the huso. The sturgeons are included in the order Chondrostei. Their body is partially covered by five rows of large, carinated, bony plates, of which one row runs along the back. The tail is heterocercal. The toothless and protrusile mouth is beneath the head, and has four barbels in front. Shovel-nosed sturgeon. (Zoöl.)
See Shovelnose | ||||||||