Surprised? There is a place in Budapest whose name translates as the sturgeon fishing area (Vizafogó), because once this swampy, reed-covered area was ideal for spawning sturgeon.
Living in the salt water of the Black Sea, they could migrate against the current, into the fresh waters of the Danube to Bavaria in search of a place to breed, which is more than 2000 km away.
Imagine, some individuals lived for more than 100 years and could reach the size of a boat! The largest trophy that was caught in Budapest in 1857 was half a ton, but there are legends that in Russia there was a catch of 1500 kg. Sturgeon females spawn black caviar, up to 7 million eggs at a time, and this is 1/5-1/4 of the body weight of the fish itself. Within 9 days, the fry are already viable and independently return to the sea.
Existing for more than 200 million years, sturgeons are now close to extinction due to the construction of dams that block traffic, due to climate change, which has caused the disappearance of the mussels they feed on, and also due to barbaric extermination, mainly for caviar.
#gastroplustourhungary
