From the pictures of these immense gorgeous pockets of golden fat you can see why these animals are one of my top 5 all time favorite beasts to devour! Sturgeon are one of the oldest fish species in the world, evolving more than 250 million years ago. Historically, sturgeon species have been a most sought-after fish, prized for their precious caviar and delicious filets served to royalty and in the world's finest restaurants. Unfortunately, their reputation as a delicacy has led to overfishing and a depletion in wild stocks worldwide. Farming sturgeon is a commitment to raise the fish with no impact on wild stocks. This is done in a controlled environment where all inputs such as feed, water quality, and other factors are strictly monitored and accomplished in a sustainable manner. In the controlled environment of California's Sterling Farms, using pure well water and fed a nutritionally balanced daily diet. Thus, ensuring that the fish are being raised in optimum conditions for both growth as well as for the health and well being of the sturgeon. There is no use of hormones to raise the fish and the use of any medication is strictly regulated and enforced by the Food and Drug Administration as well as other inspecting agencies. Sterling Farms entire production cycle is self contained and does not use any outside resources such as fish from the wild. Production cycle begins with spawning the fish and incubating the eggs for a week before the baby sturgeon, known as fry, are hatched. They grow the fish to about three years of age, by which time they are about 20-25 pounds in size each. At this point, using ultrasound technology, they identify which select females we want to keep for another five to ten years to produce caviar. The females selected at three years of age continue to grow until at least seven years of age, at which point a relatively small percentage of them are ripe and are processed into caviar California White Sturgeon is a firm, dense fleshed fishand often compared to having similar flavor & textural characterisics of milk fed veal. Because of this similarity to meat and chicken, it is an excellent menu option for diners who do not like "fishy" tasting seafood selections. Smoked sturgeon is also an exquisite option. In the humble opinion of this fishmonger, these exquisite animals are a perfect menu item with a firm dense flesh, outstanding pockets of golden colored fat & incredible overall flavor.