Sexing sturgeon with ultrasound is the only way to identify whether they're male or female
Once the sturgeon reach maturity, at about six or seven years old, Sabine has to sex them in order to know which are male and which are female. Up until this point, the males and females were kept in tanks together, but as roe can only be harvested from the female fish, and they don’t want those eggs to be fertilized, the males and females have to be separated.
The process isn’t easy. Sabine Mader, Marshallberg Farm’s farm manager, lifts individual fish into a holding tank and then gently lays each one on a table. Much like a pregnant woman getting an ultrasound to check on things, Sabine is able to see if the fish has ovaries, egg sacs that will become full of roe.
If female, the fish is allowed to continue maturing until the ovaries are full and if male, the fish is harvested and used by chefs like Gavin Baker at The Greenhouse in Asheville, where he creates dishes like sturgeon chops with smoked-fruit barbecue sauce, kabocha squash puree and fried shallots.
