ACIPENSER

(Lat. acipenser, a sturgeon.) The name of a Linnaean genus of the amphibia nantes, characterised by solitary, lateral, linear gill-openings; the mouth, situated beneath the head, retractile and edentulous; feelers under the snout, in front of the mouth. The sturgeon (acipenser sturio), and most of the other amphibia nantes of Linnteus, form the order chrondropterygii, or cartilaginous fishes of Cuvier. The genus acipenser is separated by Aga iz from the other cartilaginous fishes. It forms a link between the o eous and cartilaginous fishes, having its gills protected by an operculum, and only a single i ue, or gill-opening, on each side for tlie respiratory currents; but at the same time having no rays to the branchiostegal membrane, and having the whole of its true internal skeleton in a cartilaginous state. By Cuvier, therefore, the genus acipenser is placed in the cartilaginous division of fishes, but separated from the rays, sharks, and lampreys, which have five or more gill-openings on each side, to form, along with the genera spatular i a and chimaera, the order eleuthero-branch i at a, or those which have the branchiae free at their outer circumference. In the system of Aga iz the sturgeons are joined with the sauroid fishes, siluri, polypterus, and some other genera, to form the order Ganoides. {See that word.) And it is worthy of observation, that the polypterus (a ganoid fish of the Nile) has a spiral valve in the intestine like that of the sturgeon. There are several distinct species of acipenser in the Danube, and other great rivers of Europe; but that which is occasionally caught on our east coast, and is commonly brought to the London market, is the Acipenser Sturio of Linnaeus, or the common sturgeon. The largest specimen ever caught in this country is, probably, that which is recorded by Pennant as having been taken in the Esk, and which weighed four hundred and sixty pounds. In England the sturgeon is considered a royal fish, and its use is exclusively as an article of luxury for the table; its flesh, like that of most cartilaginous fishes, is firmer than is usual among o eous fishes, and having little peculiar flavour of its own, affords ample scope for the skill of the cook in imparting to it an extrinsic zest. In the northern parts of Europe this fish is much more numerous than in the British rivers, and extensive fisheries are established for its capture. The best isingla is manufactured from the sound, or air-bladder; and caviare is prepared from the roe of the female. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT -MONEY, in Law, paid according to the custom of some manors by copyhold tenants, on the death of a lord. [s. 23]