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Economics
Sturgeon and Caviar History
The 250-million-year-old fish whose eggs became the worlds most expensive food - now nearly extinct in the wild from overfishing.
Era: Classical Region: Caspian, Russia, Persia
📖 Overview
Sturgeon are living fossils - their body plan predates dinosaurs. For centuries, their salted eggs (caviar) fed Persian shahs and Russian tsars. Beluga caviar - the largest, most prized - can sell for over $10,000 per kilogram. Overfishing devastated Caspian sturgeon populations after the Soviet collapse; today, beluga sturgeon (Huso huso) is critically endangered. Wild caviar is banned or restricted almost everywhere; the caviar market has shifted to sustainable aquaculture, particularly in China, France, and the US.
📜 Historical Context
Ancient Persia and Rome consumed sturgeon and its eggs. Russian caviar became a luxury export under the tsars. Iranian and Russian caviar dominated 20th century markets. Post-Soviet chaos triggered catastrophic poaching.