Caviar off their coasts. Beluga caviar is prized for its soft, extremely large (pea-size) eggs. It can range in color from pale silver-gray to black. It is followed by the small golden sterlet caviar which is rare and was once reserved for Russian, Iranian and Austrian royalty. Next in quality is the medium-sized, light brown to rich brown Ossetra, also known as Russian caviar. Others in the quality ranking are the gray sevruga caviar, the Chinese Kaluga caviar, and the American osetra. The Siberian variety with black beads is similar to sevruga and is popular because of its reduced (5 years)
USS Sterlet (SS-392) January 1953, when she was deployed to the Far East. On this cruise, she joined in hunter-killer exercises, visited Chichi Jima, Atami, Japan, and Buckner Bay, Okinawa; and conducted photographic reconnaissance on Marcus Island. She returned to San Diego, California, on 23 June and resumed West Coast operations. In August 1954, "Sterlet" exchanged crews and homeports with . On 13 September, she reported for duty to Submarine Squadron 1 at Pearl Harbor. For the remainder of her Navy career, "Sterlet" was home ported at Pearl Harbor. Between 1954 and 1968, she alternated operations in the Hawaiian Islands with nine deployments