Ural (Zhayik) River Spawning Grounds of the Sturgeon (Acipenseridae) in the Republic of Kazakhstan: Modern Situation
Shalgimbaeva G.M. Mugue N.S. Isbekov K.B. Volkov A.A. Mikodina E.V.
December 2022
Journal of Ichthyology
2022#62Issue 71439 - 1453 pp.
Abstract: This review represents the dynamics of the locations and number of sturgeon spawning grounds in the Ural (Zhaiyk) River for almost a 150 years with details for the beginning of the current century. The geographic, hydrographic and hydrochemical characteristics of the Ural River are given. The state of the 68 previously known spawning grounds of the river’s lower damless flow between the city of Atyrau (former Gur’ev city) and city of Uralsk at a distance from 70 up to 796.5 km from the river mouth have been evaluated. Most of them currently have been lost or are in critical conditions due to meandering of the riverbed, the prevalence of low-water years, and the decreasing quality of the spawning substrate (silting; overgrowing with shrubs, woody, hard herbaceous, and higher aquatic vegetation). The area of spawning grounds, depth, flow velocity at the river stations, water temperature, type of substrate, and the degree of overgrowth and weediness have been determined. On the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the lower reaches of the transboundary Ural River, only a few classic sturgeon spawning grounds have been preserved (including: Naidenovskoe, Nizhnee Barbastovskoe, Yablonevoe, Politovskoe, Inderskoe, and Yamankhalinskoe). The proportion of operating spawning grounds is 11% of those previously documented. A map-scheme of the location and topography of the remaining spawning grounds of the lower reaches of the Ural River is presented.
Acipenseridae , natural reproduction , Republic of Kazakhstan , spawning grounds , spawning map , Sturgeon , topography of spawning grounds , Ural River , Ural Sturgeon population
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Research and Production Center for Fisheries, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), Moscow, Russian Federation
Research and Production Center for Fisheries
Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO)
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