Sex determination of Huso huso, Acipenser guldenstadti, A. stellatus and A. nudiventris by using Ultrasonography

Sex and maturity determination of live fishes without external sexual dimorphism or when there is no developed characters is very important from different aspects. In this regard the ultrasonography methods was used to determine sex and maturity of stellatus sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus) Russian sturgeon (A. guldenstadti) beluga (Huso huso), ship (A. 308 collected samples of live fishes of these species (with an age range of 6-26 years) from Caspian Sea were preserved in water tanks and scanned under 5.0 and MHZ linear pie medical transducer. Frontal view of right or left lateral side of each fish between pectoral and anal fins were obtained-Echogenicity and morphologic ultrasonographic findings were studied for evaluating the differences between testis and ovary and their maturity status. The results obtained from ultrasonography were confirmed by future necropsy examination. the ultrasonographic accurate for sex and maturity determination were 97.2% for stellatus sturgeon and 100% for other species. It can recommended that this method can be used with an accurate method to determine sex and maturity of sturgeons fish.