The Caspian Sea is not only the largest lake on Earth (yes, since it is not connected to any ocean, it is just a lake), but also one of the most productive reservoirs in Russia. There are a huge number of different fish. Some of them are harvested by commercial methods, while others, in general, are prohibited from catching. Therefore, it is not surprising that many fishing enthusiasts would like to know what kind of fish is found in the Caspian Sea. Let's talk about this in more detail.
A little bit about the Caspian Sea
This pond is unique from many points of view. To begin with, the salinity of the water in it changes significantly from north to south. In the north, where the Volga flows into it, water has a relatively low salt content. But in the south, this figure increases significantly - moreover, here the Caspian borders on the most saline body of water on the planet. It turns out that it is not the Dead Sea at all, as many people think, but Lake Kara-Bogaz-Kol, located in Turkmenistan. If the salinity of the water in the Dead Sea is 300 ppm, then in this lake it reaches 310.
Due to this spread of salinity, the answer to the question which fish is found in the Caspian Sea should be very long. Here you can find both freshwater and familiar to highly saline water rocks.
What fish lives here
According to experts telling what types of fish are found in the Caspian Sea, this list is very large - it is 141 species. Here you can find tiny tiny head-fish, the largest of which are no more than matches long, and huge beluga. These are the largest representatives of freshwater fish, whose weight can reach 2 tons with a length of 9 meters. It was in the Caspian Sea in 1924 that a female beluga was caught, in the belly of which 246 kilograms of caviar were found.
Most fish species (about 120) are "old-timers", that is, they came here naturally, took root and successfully breed. Moreover, five of them are endemic, that is, they are not found in any other place in the world! Falling into new, unusual conditions, their distant descendants were forced to mutate in order to survive. So completely unique fish appeared, living only in an extremely limited area.
In addition, more than 20 species of fish were settled here artificially. Favorable living conditions and year-round warm water have led to the fact that they quickly grow and actively multiply, representing serious interest for many fishers.
And now, so that the reader can better understand what kind of fish is found in the Caspian Sea, we will talk about each of these groups in more detail.
Fish "old-timers"
This is the most numerous category of fish. If you list what kind of fish is found in the Caspian Sea, the list would be really impressive - almost 120 species.
They came here from different places and at different times. For example, some were in the lake at the time of its formation - about 70 million years ago. This includes bull-calves (Berg, Knipovich and others) and herring (puzanka, Brazhnikovskaya, golovach and others). Some of them live in salt water all year round, while others go to spawn at the mouth of the Volga or even rise upstream against the river to spawn in calm backwaters.
Others came here much later - already in the postglacial period. This is nelma, whitefish and trout. Usually they live exclusively in cold water, being arctic species. But once in the warm water of the Caspian Sea, they not only took root, but also significantly altered in comparison with relatives, mostly became larger, more prolific.
There are quite a lot of fish, which are usually exclusively freshwater, but when they get into salt water they managed to adapt and survive. These are zander, barbel, catfish, asp, grass carp, asp, as well as sturgeon, stellate stellate and beluga. In general, if you are interested in what kind of red fish is found in the Caspian Sea, this list can be increased. After all, several species of salmon also live here. In general, this reservoir is a place of serious concentration of sturgeons - almost 80% of individuals living on the globe live here!
Endemic species
The list of endemic breeds is much smaller. Which is not surprising - such living organisms are generally of great rarity. That is why they should be taken especially carefully.
This group includes the Caspian pinch, the spikehead head, as well as the Caspian golovacha goby. Surprisingly, you can see these fish only in the Caspian Sea - they no longer live in any other body of water on planet Earth! And here, their habitat is usually very limited - they occupy a small niche in relatively small areas.
New arrivals
In Soviet times, a series of experiments was carried out to resettle some species of fish from other bodies of water into the Caspian Sea - mainly the Mediterranean Sea, which is similar in temperature and salinity. So in the Caspian Sea were singil-ostronos, the Black Sea flounder, needle fish, as well as some others. They look completely different - illustrating which fish is found in the Caspian Sea, photos will allow the reader to verify this.
Suitable living conditions, combined with the absence of habitual predators, allowed them to gain a foothold, squeeze old-timers and even become the main one for commercial prey.
Conclusion
This can end the article. Now the reader knows what kind of fish is found in the Caspian Sea, as well as the main ways of its getting into this amazing reservoir. It remains only to call both ordinary amateur fishermen and fishermen to treat this lake as carefully as possible. After all, even what seems to be an endless source of a valuable resource, may one day run dry.
Just a century ago, not returning from fishing with pood pike for local anglers was a shame. Today, pikes weighing 5 kilograms are rare. One can not even speak about beluga and sturgeon - the high cost of caviar has led to the fact that they are hunted prey. For example, Beluga, to grow to the legendary weight of 700-800 kilograms, you need at least 70-80 years. Alas, the vast majority of fish today simply do not live up to this age; they are caught much earlier - by poachers or legal trappers.