Feeding habits of sturgeon fishes in shallow coastal waters of Guilan Province, southern Caspian Sea

We collected sturgeon specimens from seven fishing stations operating 30 to 35 Km away from each other in Guilan province over the years 1999- 2000. Trawl nets six meters long were drawn using motorboats at each station, repeated three times for each season. Among the studied premature sturgeons, 121 Acipenser persicus specimens with an average age of less than two years and a length of 10 to 49.9±0.77 cm showed full stomachs (57.17 % fullness). Among the mature specimens with an average age of 11 years and a length range of 90 to 194 cm, only three showed full stomachs (11.54 % fullness). The highest gut index in this study belonged to premature A. persicus. A one-way analysis of variance showed no significant difference in condition factor and gastro-somatic index among the different length groups (P