Labelsfromcaviarjarsbought in New York. Thesurvey of the New York Cityareashopsusing themolecular method of species identifi-
cation (DeSalle &Birstein^1 ) showedthatcurrently thenumber ofillegalreplacements of commercial sturgeon species caviar (beluga,
sevruga, and Russian sturgeon caviar orosetra) by thecaviar ofAmerican or non-commercialEurasianspecies is very high: inDecember
1995 andApril1996, it was 17% and inDecember1996, it was already32% (Birstein et al.^2 ). Suchcompanies as Petrossian Inc.(the upper
row) continue tosellexcellentcaviarwithout misrepresenting.
(^1) DeSalle, R. & V.J. Birstein. 1996. PCR identification of black caviar. Nature 381: 197–198.
(^2) Birstein,V.J., P.Doukakis, B.Sorkin & R. DeSalle.1997.Population aggregationanalysis of caviarproducingspecies ofsturgeons and
implications fordiagnosis of blackcaviar. Cons. Biol.(submitted).