This figure is the sixth and final figure from the Replica Toy Fish 6 inch series, and possibly the most unique model of the whole company’s run. The figure is the shovelnose sturgeon Scaphirhynchus platorhynchus, by no means the first sturgeon on the blog, but the first not from the genus Acipenser (previously including lake sturgeon and Chinese sturgeon) and…probably the only figure from the genus so far (there are other Acipenser figures…and someday we might get to Huso, but I digress).
Classification: Sturgeon & paddlefish
Lake Sturgeon (3″ figure by Replica Toy Fish)
4.2 (6 votes)
Back with another Replica Toy Fish figure in the 3″ line, another of the models released in or around April of 2015. Again, I think one that I caught wind of via another collector or forum. This one is the lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens, a species that was seen once before in the Safari Great Lakes toob, and was a welcome addition to the RTF series as well.
Chinese Sturgeon (Mini Ancient Fish Series 2 by Bandai)
4.8 (4 votes)
This figure represents the fifth and final model in the Mini Ancient Fish series 2 from Bandai. In this case, it a fish well-known as ‘ancient’, a Chinese sturgeon Acipenser sinensis. Sturgeons are well known as primitive fish, with the order Acipenseriformes represented in the Jurassic, and the earliest member of the sturgeon family Acipenseridae being known from the late Cretaceous, included in the same genus Acipenser (although it is believed that this genus is paraphyletic–so the taxonomy could change).
Sturgeon (Red Rose Tea, Endangered North American Animals Series IV, by Wade Ceramics)
4 (3 votes)
Here’s something a little different, and not an actual toy, but worth taking a look at anyway. This is a ceramic sturgeon by Wade Ceramics, a pottery manufacturer operating out of Stoke-on-Trent, England. Wade Ceramics got its start in the 1950’s and produced ceramic figurines up until 2018. In 1967 Wade Ceramics entered a partnership with the American Rose Red Tea company who started including Wade figures in their boxes of tea.
Great Lakes TOOB (Safari Ltd.)
5 (5 votes)
Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. Those are the names of the Great Lakes of North America that boarder the central/east United States and Canada. In total area they represent the largest freshwater lakes on Earth, holding roughly 20% of the world’s surface freshwater and 9/10ths of the water supply for the United States.
American Paddlefish (Tchibo)
3.5 (2 votes)
An unusual commercial toy of an unusual fish
Welcome to a new year, and I’m starting with a bit of a memorial piece. Today I will discuss the American Paddlefish–in honour of the recently-declared-extinct Chinese Paddlefish Psephurus. Unfortunately…there are no figures of that particular animal at all–and not that many images out there either (most of the news reports featured pictures of the American paddlefish).