The sterlet is a species of fish belonging to the sturgeon family. It is a native inhabitant of large European rivers, whose evolution, according to Lukáš Hrábek, spokesman of WWF Česko (the World Wide Fund for Nature), was completed back in the Mesozoic, that is, at a time when dinosaurs inhabited the Earth [2]. The fish can grow to a length of more than one metre and a weight of about 15 kilograms, and feeds on aquatic insect larvae, worms and crustaceans [2].
Distribution and migration
Unlike other sturgeons, this species does not migrate from rivers to the sea, which is why it can be stocked artificially in Czechia [2]. Hrábek said that the fish can migrate hundreds of kilometres, but its movement on the Danube is stopped by the Iron Gates dam on the border between Serbia and Romania [2]. According to him, building a fish pass at this dam would allow sturgeons to migrate from the Black Sea back up the Danube, as they did in the past [2].
Population in Czechia
According to Hrábek, the number of sterlets currently does not reach a level at which the fish could reproduce sufficiently on their own in the rivers and populate the watercourses [2]. Sturgeon expert Bořek Drozd said that the return of the species to the rivers depends not only on releasing fish, but also on finding out how they are doing in the river and where they move, for which monitoring with chips is used [2].
Stocking in Czechia
In spring 2026, WWF Česko released young sterlets into the Morava river in the Litovelské Pomoraví Protected Landscape Area near Olomouc [2]. These fish hatched directly in the river in special incubation boxes placed in the stream and were released as tiny fry [2]. On 29 September 2026, WWF representatives then released about 2,100 sterlets reared at the Pohořelice fish farm (Rybníkářství Pohořelice) into the Thaya and the Morava at four sites in the Břeclav area; the fish were fitted with chips for tracking their movement [2]. According to information published on the Ekolist.cz website, owners of private fishing grounds, because of the threat from predators, prefer to stock half-metre fish, which are considerably more expensive but make angling on the grounds more attractive and raise the price of fishing permits [1].
Pages linking here
Sources
- Ekolist.cz — 29 September 2026
- ČTK / České noviny — 29 September 2026