Sturgeons are considered living fossils, sharing many morphological and biological features with ancestral fish. Furthermore, sturgeons are of the utmost interest from an economic perspective, not only for the caviar but for the flesh. However, the wild populations of the majority of the species are at serious risk of extinction all over the world. So, it is urgent to develop strategies for both farming culture and conservation and recovery in natural habitats.

This book provides a comprehensive view of the biology and sustainable development of sturgeons putting emphasis on the Southern Europe autochthonous species such as Acipenser nacarii and Acipenser sturio that share geographical distribution. Other relevant species (such as Huso huso, A. oxyrhinchus, A. ruthenus, A. stellatus) and areas (Germany, Russia, North America) are also considered. The contents are organised in three sections: Taxonomy and Biogeography (including the morphological and genetic analyses that clarify the taxonomy and phylogeny of sturgeons, focused on those from Southern Europe), Biology and Aquaculture (where several aspects of the developmental biology, feeding, and reproduction are considered in relation to the improvement of sturgeon farming), and Recovery and Conservation (that collates and analyses different recovery research actions, the ecology of the rivers for restoration as well as the problems related to the trade of caviar)."

Si el proposito de este libro es ofrecer unas pautas que puedan servir de guia a la hora de comentar un film, ello no implica de ningun modo eliminar el placer que la simple vision de una pelicula aporta, sino, bien al contrario, acrecentarlo, porque parece evidente que solo se goza de aquello que se conoce, y solo se conoce aquello que es posible comprender, es decir: explicar. Se trata, por consiguiente, de proponer un metodo de aproximacion que permita sober como esta hecho aquello que nos gusta para poder saber por que nos gusta.