[Existence of transferrin polymorphism in a species of sturgeon from the Caspian Sea: Acipenser stellatus].

Though various subdivisions have been proposed in literature for species of sturgeon from the Caspian Sea, these subdivisions still remain hypothetical. Research on the erythrocyte antigens of four species of anadrome sturgeons, caught off the Iranian coast has not evidenced any erythrocyte antigenic differentiations among these four species. After marking serum with 59Fe, doing paper and starch electrophoreses and revealing the marked serum proteins by autoradiography, we have shown that a transferrin polymorphism exists in Acipenser stellatus. This isotopic marking also enabled us to identify by starch electrophoresis marked proteins corresponding to transferrins in the serum of three other species of sturgeon: Acipenser guldenstadti, Acipenser nudiventris and Huso huso. It has not however been possible to determine with certainty the existence of a transferrin polymorphism in these three species.