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Description
On the other side of the known world, in the temperate waters to the south, is home to the largest freshwater fish in Kaimere: the skewerback sturgeon. Fossils of their dorsal osteoderms have been found from formations early in the Tyrant Dynasty show they have changed very little in their millions of years in the known world. All twelve sturgeon species in the known world are well-defended by tough dermal armor, but the high spines of skewerback sturgeons are particularly reliable defenses and deterrents. Most Earth sturgeon see the absorption of their scutes with age, but perhaps in an effort to maintain these defenses into adulthood due to greater predatory pressures, the most successful Kaimeran sturgeon species are neotenic: retaining visible armor and flatter heads as a consequence. There are many predators who view even adults as prey, and investing in armor well into adulthood has proved to be a successful strategy.

When it is time to spawn, adults swim upriver in any of the thousand southern islands, southern Arvel, or Pakardia. Fertilized caviar is laid in solid substrate. Young hatch and subsist on benthic invertebrates. Once they reach a few inches in length, they will add fish and into their diet and as adults marine mammals, although unlike other large sturgeons, benthic prey like mollusks and crustaceans is often a majority of their diet, perhaps due to their neotenic traits. Juveniles remain in freshwater habitats for at least the first year. Some remain indefinitely, though these rarely exceed a few meters in length.

Although males often reach fifteen feet and over a ton in weight, females have been found to reach truly staggering sizes: the largest verified by the Assembly was thirty-two feet in length, and the Great Library has a skeleton which likely exceeded forty feet in life. Even common females in the twenty-foot range are still documented to attack and kill people. Their caviar is prized for its rich buttery flavor, but harvesting is best done after the mother has returned to sea.

Description
On the other side of the known world, in the temperate waters to the south, is home to the largest freshwater fish in Kaimere: the skewerback sturgeon. Fossils of their dorsal osteoderms have been found from formations early in the Tyrant Dynasty show they have changed very little in their millions of years in the known world. All twelve sturgeon species in the known world are well-defended by tough dermal armor, but the high spines of skewerback sturgeons are particularly reliable defenses and deterrents. Most Earth sturgeon see the absorption of their scutes with age, but perhaps in an effort to maintain these defenses into adulthood due to greater predatory pressures, the most successful Kaimeran sturgeon species are neotenic: retaining visible armor and flatter heads as a consequence. There are many predators who view even adults as prey, and investing in armor well into adulthood has proved to be a successful strategy.

When it is time to spawn, adults swim upriver in any of the thousand southern islands, southern Arvel, or Pakardia. Fertilized caviar is laid in solid substrate. Young hatch and subsist on benthic invertebrates. Once they reach a few inches in length, they will add fish and into their diet and as adults marine mammals, although unlike other large sturgeons, benthic prey like mollusks and crustaceans is often a majority of their diet, perhaps due to their neotenic traits. Juveniles remain in freshwater habitats for at least the first year. Some remain indefinitely, though these rarely exceed a few meters in length.

Although males often reach fifteen feet and over a ton in weight, females have been found to reach truly staggering sizes: the largest verified by the Assembly was thirty-two feet in length, and the Great Library has a skeleton which likely exceeded forty feet in life. Even common females in the twenty-foot range are still documented to attack and kill people. Their caviar is prized for its rich buttery flavor, but harvesting is best done after the mother has returned to sea.