Nukus Balyk fish hatchery located in the town of Nukus - the capital of Karakalpakstan (a northen province of Uzbekistan with the status of republic).
Nukus Balyk hatchery is the main partner of the Amu Darya shovelnoses conservation project. It provides the project with several lines of recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Water in the system is refreshed from the Amu Darya river through Kyzketken Canal.
In 2020 Nukus Balyk was registerged as the Amu Darya shovelnoses hatchery in the Republic of Uzbekistan State Committee for Ecology and Environment Protection (registration certificate # 000010, date: 11.05.2020).
The main goal of Nukus Balyk hatchery is to create a brood stock of Amu Darya shovelnose sturgeons (Pseudoscaphirhynchus) with maximum possible genetic diversity, achive its regular propagation in aquaculture and ultimately reintroduce the shovelnoses propagated in aquaculture to the lower stream of the Amu Darya river where degradation of the wild populations is extremely dramatic.
Video of Amu Darya shovelnose sturgeons - Pseudoscaphirhynchus hermanni and both forms of Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni (large wide snout (common) form and small narrow snout (dwarf) form in Nukus Balyk fish hatchery recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) filmed on 11 and 12.04.2025:
Video of Nukus Balyk hatchery visit on 10.04.2025 for ultra sound screening of shovelnoses brood stock and implanting individual microchips:
The procedures were conducted by Danil Domrachev (ichthyologist, specialist in fish propagation, practicing fish ultra-sound screening) in online consultations with a number of experienced specialists in ultra-sound screening of sturgeons including Vyacheslav Shebanin, the head of Aleksin sturgeon hatchery (Aleksin, Tula province, Russia) and Elena Galich, PhD, researcher and a prominent specialist in ultra-sound screening of sturgeons (State Regional Centre for Sturgeon Gene Pool Conservation, Krasnodar province, Russia - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elena-Galich)
Video of Nukus Balyk hatchery water supply system:
Amu Darya Shovelnose Sturgeons (Pseudoscaphirhynchus) - Nukus Balyk Hatchery Initial Brood Stock Data Base
Big Amu Darya Shovelnose Sturgeon (Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni)
Large wide snout (common) form
1. iNaturalist 208820118; microchip implant 900263000-401868
2. iNaturalist 251558535; microchip implant 900263000-401867
3. iNaturalist 277909149; microchip implant 900263000-401865
Big Amu Darya Shovelnose Sturgeon (Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni)
Small narrow snout (dwarf) form
1. iNaturalist 253558384; microchip implant 900263000-401875
2. iNaturalist 253566990; microchip implant 900263000-401871
3. iNaturalist 255307657; microchip implant 900263000-401864
4. iNaturalist 276822466; microchip implant 900263000-401873
5. iNaturalist 277888729; microchip implant 900263000-401862
Small Amu Darya Shovelnose Sturgeon (Pseudoscaphirhynchus hermanni)