A review of endangered and threatened chondrostean (sturgeon and paddlefish) species is given. It is shown that at least three species from the territory of the former Soviet Union are the most endangered. Among them is the large Amu‐Dar shovelnose Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni, which seems to be the last survivor of the most primitive group among sturgeons, still living in the region where it originated. These facts call for quick conservation efforts. Because of the present economic crisis in Russia, there is no hope that such effort can be made by Russian scientists alone. Saving sturgeons should be a goal of the international community.

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increased demand has recently driven the price of black market smoked sturgeon as high as $26 a kilogram. With poachers standing to gain roughly a third of this price [besides the much higher price of caviar], a large fish could be worth thousands of dollars.

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