Caspian Sea caviar is the most aristocratic and expensive food in the world. Caviar is the roe of certain species of fish, which are called sturgeon. It is very time-consuming and difficult process to catch and harvest caviar. Caviar is also known as black pearl because of its appearance and high price. The reason for the famous of caviar as one of the Iranian dishes is that the Caspian Sea is the largest source of sturgeon in the world. Therefore, more than 90% of the world's caviar is supplied through Iran.
Sturgeons are very special and rare species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae who date back to the Jurassic period some several hundred million years ago. Therefore they are also called live fossils .Only three species of 25 species of sturgeons are harvested for their roe, which is processed into the caviar. The tree species are inhabited in the Caspian Sea. The weight of Beluga, which is one of the largest economical fish in the Caspian Sea, reaches 1,500 km, and sometimes up to 100 kg of caviar is obtained from each Beluga. At present, artificial reproduction methods are used to increase the number of Caspian sturgeon in Mazandaran. But the important thing is that it takes 15 or 16 years for a fish to reach the proper stage of caviar harvest, so young artificially fishes are returned to the sea to return to their normal growth stages.
Iran is a suitable country for fishing because it has 2700 km of Maritime boundary in the north and south. Sturgeons live in the temperate waters of the northern hemisphere in the Caspian Sea. The Caspian Sea has suitable conditions for breeding the best types of sturgeon because it has a good depth and the water temperature.
The price of this type of sturgeon per kilo is more than $ 5. But overfishing and adverse biological and ecological factors have made it difficult for aquatic life.
According to experts, Iran's precious caviar is unique in the world and there is no other like it. That is why caviar is one of the most important export items in Iran