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EveryFish

Reef or sea, Russia

The Caspian Sea and Volga delta

The world's largest inland water body, once the source of most of the world's wild caviar.

The Caspian Sea, bordered by Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Azerbaijan, is the largest inland body of water on Earth. The Volga, Europe's longest river, flows into it through a wide delta near Astrakhan. The Caspian and its rivers held the world's largest sturgeon populations, and through the 20th century they supplied most of the world's wild caviar.

Sturgeon and caviar

Beluga, Russian, Persian and stellate sturgeons swam up the Volga and Ural rivers to spawn. Their roe was salted as caviar. Dams on the Volga, built from the 1950s, cut the sturgeon off from most of their spawning grounds, and the stocks came to depend on hatcheries. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, poaching surged. Wild sturgeon numbers collapsed, and the beluga is now Critically Endangered.

Bans and farms

All sturgeons are listed by CITES, and international trade in caviar needs permits. Caspian countries banned commercial sturgeon fishing in the 2000s and 2010s, and most caviar is now farmed. The Caspian's level has fallen in recent years, and with pollution from oil and industry, scientists warn this will further shrink sturgeon habitat. The kutum, a carp-like fish, is a favourite in Iranian cooking, especially for the Persian New Year.

Still to be written: Beluga (sturgeon), Russian sturgeon, Starry sturgeon, Caspian kutum.

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