Caviar Trivia and Quiz

Test your caviar knowledge with 25 questions about species, history, law and labels, science, and food culture. The questions move between starter, keen and expert level, with all answers collected below so you can play without seeing the explanations.

How to play this caviar trivia quiz

Write down one answer per question, then scroll to the answer block. Give yourself one point for each correct answer, with a maximum of 25; the level labels indicate difficulty, not extra points.

Starter questions cover names and basic ideas; keen questions ask for connections; expert questions test precise dates or technical distinctions. Play alone or take turns reading the questions aloud, keeping the answers out of view.

The scientific names here follow CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. For another route through the subject, explore caviar fun after you finish.

Species: know the fish

Begin with the fish behind the familiar names. These questions distinguish a species name, a trade name and the short identification codes used in wildlife trade.

1. Starter. Which fish produces beluga caviar? Choose sturgeon, salmon or tuna.

2. Starter. Which traditional caviar name belongs to the starry sturgeon, Acipenser stellatus? Choose beluga, sevruga or malossol.

3. Keen. The CITES species code BAE identifies which fish? Choose Siberian sturgeon, Russian sturgeon or white sturgeon.

4. Keen. What is the CITES species code for beluga, Huso huso? Choose HUS, GUE or STE.

5. Expert. A fish has a male Amur sturgeon parent and a female kaluga parent. Is it a pure species or an interspecific hybrid?

History: put the dates in order

This round concerns documented milestones rather than origin legends. Read the dates carefully, because adopting a decision and bringing it into effect are different events.

1. Starter. In which year did CITES enter into force? Choose 1975, 1998 or 2010.

2. Keen. When did the Appendix II listing covering the remaining unlisted sturgeons take effect? Choose 1 April 1998, 1 April 2008 or 1 April 2018.

3. Keen. Were any sturgeons already covered by CITES before that listing took effect? Choose yes or no.

4. Expert. The US FDA's caviar naming guidance reproduces a 1914 discussion about which fish? Choose whitefish, anchovy or trout.

5. Expert. When was the Codex Standard for Sturgeon Caviar first adopted? Choose 1990, 2000 or 2010.

Law and labels: read what is actually there

In the CITES system, species codes identify the fish, while source codes indicate how a specimen was obtained. The questions identify the CITES system or the United States rule concerned, rather than treating every country as legally identical.

1. Starter. In CITES source codes, what does R mean? Choose ranched, Russian or retail.

2. Keen. Are CITES source codes F and C interchangeable ways to say farmed? Choose yes or no.

3. Expert. Under the CITES hybrid coding convention, which parent's code comes first? Choose the male parent's or the female parent's.

4. Keen. Under US caviar import labelling rules, does repacking change the stated country of origin? Choose yes or no.

5. Expert. Is a correctly formatted CITES label itself a laboratory identification of the eggs inside? Choose yes or no.

Science: eggs, growth and longevity

Think about the living fish before picturing the spoon. Roe means fish eggs, and where a measurement comes from matters when comparing hatchery eggs with finished food.

1. Starter. Under the CITES definition, are caviar eggs fertilised or unfertilised? Choose one of those two answers.

2. Starter. How long can beluga live, according to the FAO hatchery manual? Choose up to 10, 30 or 100 years.

3. Keen. Which has the larger typical egg diameter in the UF/IFAS hatchery guide, beluga or Siberian sturgeon? Choose one species.

4. Expert. Does the documented 3.6 to 4.3 mm range for Volga beluga describe biological eggs or a guaranteed finished caviar grade? Choose one.

5. Keen. Can food supply and environmental conditions influence sturgeon egg size? Choose yes or no.

Culture: names at the table

Food language can describe a fish, a preparation or a convention used in one country. This final round asks you to separate those meanings without assuming that one definition works everywhere.

1. Starter. What does malossol mean in caviar terminology? Choose lightly salted, smoked or unsalted.

2. Starter. Must sturgeon caviar be black to fit the Codex standard's colour description? Choose yes or no.

3. Keen. In the United States FDA's guidance, can salted salmon roe be called salmon caviar? Choose yes or no.

4. Expert. Does Codex associate the name Ossetra with only Russian sturgeon, Acipenser gueldenstaedtii? Choose yes or no.

5. Expert. Do Codex and CITES include exactly the same fish groups in their caviar definitions? Choose yes or no.

Answers and one-line explanations

Check your choices below, then follow the linked guide for the detail behind any answer that surprised you. Each explanation gives the reason, rather than simply marking your choice right or wrong.

Species

1. Sturgeon, specifically the species CITES lists as Huso huso. Beluga is not a general name for large-egged caviar; see the species guide.

2. Sevruga. FAO identifies sevruga with the starry sturgeon, Acipenser stellatus, rather than a salting style; see the species guide.

3. Siberian sturgeon, Acipenser baerii. BAE is its standard CITES identification code, not a quality grade; see the code explanation.

4. HUS. The CITES species list pairs that code with Huso huso, separately from the codes for other sturgeons; see the code explanation.

5. An interspecific hybrid, a cross between different species. Its male parent is Amur sturgeon, Acipenser schrenckii, and its female parent is kaluga, Huso dauricus; see the species guide.

History

1. 1975, specifically 1 July. The treaty entered into force then, before the remaining unlisted sturgeons were added to Appendix II; see the timeline.

2. 1 April 1998. The listing added previously unlisted species to Appendix II, rather than starting protection for every sturgeon simultaneously; see the 1998 listing history.

3. Yes. For example, shortnose sturgeon was listed in Appendix I in 1975, so protection predates the broader listing; see the 1998 listing history.

4. Whitefish. The historical US discussion concerned naming whitefish roe and declaring added colour, showing that naming debates are not new; see the timeline.

5. 2010. CXS 291-2010 records its original adoption year, which is distinct from the dates of later amendments; see the timeline.

Law and labels

1. Ranched. Code R concerns wild-collected eggs or juveniles reared under controlled conditions that otherwise had very low survival prospects; see the code explanation.

2. No. F identifies captive-born animals not meeting CITES' definition of bred in captivity, whereas C requires that definition to be met; see the code explanation.

3. The male parent's. CITES uses male then female in Annex 2, while Codex Annex A uses female then male; see the code explanation.

4. No. US rule 50 CFR 23.71 keeps the country of origin separate from the repackaging country and plant details; see the code explanation.

5. No. The label records traceability information, not a laboratory test proving that its contents match the declared species; see the code explanation.

Science

1. Unfertilised. CITES defines caviar as processed unfertilised roe, so these are not developing fish embryos; see the species guide.

2. Up to 100 years. FAO documents this lifespan for beluga, not an expectation that every individual reaches that age; see sturgeon records.

3. Beluga. UF/IFAS gives typical egg diameters of 3.6 to 4.3 mm for beluga and 2.4 to 3.0 mm for Siberian sturgeon; see the species guide.

4. Biological eggs. The FAO range concerns Volga beluga eggs, not a guaranteed size specification for every finished product; see the species guide.

5. Yes. UF/IFAS describes egg size as heritable but also influenced by food supply, female size and age, and environmental factors; see the species guide.

Culture

1. Lightly salted. Malossol describes salting, not a fish species or a claim that the roe contains no salt; see caviar myths.

2. No. Codex also describes lighter colours, including yellowish tones, with brownish and greenish shades permissible; see caviar myths.

3. Yes. FDA guidance permits named fish caviar with equally prominent wording; added colour must comply with regulations and be prominently declared; see caviar myths.

4. No. Codex associates Ossetra with both Russian sturgeon and Persian sturgeon, Acipenser persicus, so the trade name alone is insufficient; see the species guide.

5. No. Codex covers Acipenseridae, the true sturgeons, whereas CITES covers Acipenseriformes, which includes paddlefish; these are different scopes, not conflicting answers; see caviar myths.

Your score and next steps

Use your score as a reading prompt, not a qualification. A missed question about a source code is a reason to check the explanation, not a reason to think you cannot enjoy learning about caviar.

• 0 to 8: Start with the species questions and their linked guide.
• 9 to 17: Revisit whichever theme produced the most surprises.
• 18 to 25: Try explaining each answer without looking at the choices.

These bands are simply suggestions for using the quiz, not an assessment of professional knowledge. If playing in a group, let each person choose one linked article to read before a second round.