Ural (Zhayik) River Spawning Grounds of the Sturgeon (Acipenseridae) in the Republic of Kazakhstan: Modern Situation

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of ichthyology 2022-12, Vol.62 (7), p.1439-1453
Main Authors: Shalgimbaeva, G. M., Mugue, N. S., Isbekov, K. B., Volkov, A. A., Mikodina, E. V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal migration
Aquatic plants
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Flow velocity
Freshwater fishes
Life Sciences
Meandering
River beds
River mouth
River mouths
Riverbeds
Rivers
Shrubs
Siltation
Silting
Spawning
Spawning grounds
Sturgeons (Acipenseridae)
Water depth
Water temperature
Zoology
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0032-9452
1555-6425
DOI:10.1134/S0032945222060273