Alosa kessleri volgensis

Volga shad

Taxonomy
Phylum Chordates (Chordata)
Class Fish (Pisces)
Order Herrings (Clupeiformes)
Family Herrings (Clupeidae)
Genus Shads (Alosa)
Species Authority Berg, 1913
Information
Summary Status: vulnerable (Category II), a migratory (anadromous) subspecies with numbers dramatically reduced in Kazakstan in recent decades because of commercial exploitation and poaching. Adults reach a maximum of 40 cm and 600 gm after 4 or 5 years. It is distributed throughout the Caspian Sea and its tributaries: the Ural, Volga and Terek Rivers, where it was once the basis for a substantial fishery industry. These shad used to breed in the Ural River up to 300 km from the Caspian estuary. In the Kazakstani territory of the Caspian Sea the population was never great and now this herring-like fish is rarely seen. There is an urgent need to protect the remnant wild population.

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