Sevruga caviar is one of the highest priced varieties of

caviar Caviar or caviare is a food consisting of salt-cured roe of the family Acipenseridae. Caviar is considered a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or spread. Traditionally, the term caviar refers only to roe from wild sturgeon in the Caspi ...

, eclipsed in cost only by the

Beluga Beluga may refer to: Animals *Beluga (sturgeon) * Beluga whale Vehicles * Airbus Beluga, a large transport airplane * Airbus BelugaXL, a larger transport airplane * Beluga-class submarine, a class of Russian SSA diesel-electric submarine * U ...

and

Ossetra Ossetra (also Osetra, Oscietra, Osetrova, or Asetra) caviar is one of the most prized and expensive types of caviar (eclipsed in price only by Beluga caviar). It is obtained from the Russian sturgeon, Ossetra sturgeon, which weighs 50–400 poun ...

varieties. It is harvested from a variety of critically endangered sturgeon fish species that are known for their small, grey eggs. In eastern Europe, it is harvested from the stellate

sturgeon Sturgeon (from Old English ultimately from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European *''str̥(Hx)yón''-) is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the ...

(''

Acipenser stellatus The starry sturgeon (''Huso stellatus''), also known as the stellate sturgeon or sevruga (Drakul, , and ), is a species of sturgeon. It is native to the Black, Azov, Caspian and Aegean sea basins, but it has been extirpated from the last and ...

''), the

sterlet The sterlet (''Huso ruthenus'') is a relatively small species of sturgeon from Eurasia native to large rivers that flow into the Black Sea, Azov Sea, and Caspian Sea, as well as rivers in Siberia as far east as Yenisei River, Yenisei. Population ...

sturgeon (''Acipenser ruthenus'') and the Siberian sturgeon (''Acipenser baerii''), which are native to the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

and the surrounding rivers. Because the stellate sturgeon was once the most common and fastest to reproduce, this made Sevruga caviar the most commonly found of the sturgeon caviars, and the most inexpensive of the three main types of sturgeon caviar – Beluga, Osetra and Sevruga. Sevruga is the smallest of the caviar-producing sturgeons. It can grow as far as 150 lbs. in weight and 7 feet in length. It is native to the Black, Azov, Caspian and

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

basins although it has been extirpated throughout most of its range. It is calculated that about half the caviar production comes from Sevruga. Sevruga caviar eggs are a pearlescent grey, and smaller in size than other sturgeon. The flavor is more pronounced than other varieties, often described as saltier, but it can vary depending on the origin of the fish. The caviar is packaged and sold in red tins.

Other types

A rare type of caviar known as Imperial Caviar, from the

sturgeon (''Acipenser ruthenus''), a now nearly extinct species of sturgeon from the Caspian Sea, is sometimes incorrectly labeled as Sevruga, as well as the even rarer Golden Caviar from the albino sterlet, the caviar being yellow in color. "Pressed sevruga caviar" can also be found, made of a blend of Osetra and Sevruga caviar that has been heated in a

saline solution Saline (also known as saline solution) is a mixture of sodium chloride (salt) and water. It has a number of uses in medicine including cleaning wounds, removal and storage of contact lenses, and help with dry eyes. By injection into a vein, i ...

References

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