Beluga sturgeon (Huso huso).

We proposed on July 31 to list the beluga sturgeon as an endangered species. This large fish inhabits the Caspian and Black Seas, and it spawns in the rivers that constitute the drainage basins of these seas. Loss of habitat throughout historic spawning areas due to dam construction and river-modification projects, overharvest for the international caviar trade, widespread poaching and illegal trade to supply the caviar market, and pollution imperil the survival of this species. Due to continuing overharvest, the greatest threat, this species was listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1998. Despite the CITES listing, beluga sturgeon populations have continued to decline, and the population structure is increasingly skewed towards subadult fish, with a critical lack of spawning-age adult female fish. If this species is listed as endangered under the ESA, commercial imports, exports, re-exports and interstate commerce of beluga sturgeon (including its caviar) would be prohibited.