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Sturgeon Caviar Species

There are around about 27 species of Sturgeon worldwide, the uncertainty is due to lack of agreement between biologists regarding what constitutes a truely separate species compared to a separate population or race.

Whatever the true total species list of the sturgeon order, at least 13 species of Sturgeon are exploited for caviar. Added to this list of natural species, there has been some hybrid experimentation which has produced at least one named hybrid.

The most famous is probably the large Beluga sturgeon, followed by the Sevruga Sturgeon (often called the Starry Sturgeon). Osetra Caviar, which is most often marketed as coming from the Oseta Sturgeon is actually caviar from a number of different sturgeon species, all of which produce similarly small dark grey eggs.

Other names becoming common are "American", this is normally appended to caviar from the White Sturgeon (Transmontanus), but confusion is common as it is often used as a geographic tag describing any caviar hailing from the US. Hackleback caviar appears to be restricted to caviar produced from the Mississippi River sturgeon known as the Shovelnose Sturgeon.