Chinese Sturgeon

中华鲟 '最原始的一种鱼类'

Acipenser sinensis

The Precious Chinese Sturgeon

Chinese sturgeon is a kind of precious fish which live only in Yangtze River in China.

The Origin of Chinese Sturgeon

Chinese sturgeon - most primitive vertebrates, which has been living for 1.4 billion years, in that it's also called 'living fossil'

A Group of Chinese Sturgeon

A group of juvenile Chinese sturgeon. They are swimming happily to the ocean, following the way left by their ancestors

The living area of Chinese Sturgeon

Chinese sturgeon at the bottom of water - most primitive vertebrates. An adult Chinese sturgeon is usually big and heavy. A male sturgeon weighs from 68Kg to 106Kg; a female sturgeon weighs from 130Kg to 250Kg, and that's how they got the name of 'Fish King in the Yangtze River.

The Chinese Sturgeon is a member of the family Acipenseridae and the order Acipenseriformes. The local name for this species of fish is Zhong Hua Xun. It is thought to have lived at the same time as dinosaurs, dating back to a period 140 million years ago. Because of that, it is sometimes also known as a living fossil. It is an animal strictly protected by the Chinese government, named a "national treasure" much like its mammalian counterpart, the Giant Panda.

Appearance

It can be considered a large fresh water fish, and is 200 to 500 centimeters in body length, with 200 to 500 kilograms in average weight. The largest one can weigh 550 kilograms. A grownup sturgeon measures up to 4 meters long, weighs over 1000 pound, ranking the third biggest only to the white sturgeon and Atlantic sturgeon. Its head is acuminate, with the mouth under its jaw.

There are multi-blocks of osteones with barb protrusion in the center of head and a column of osteones in the ventral middle of the snout end. Its body is covered with five lines of osteones with acanthoid protuberance. In front of and behind the anal fin, as well as under and on the base of pectoral fin, there is a piece of osteone respectively.

Habitat

The Chinese sturgeon is a precious but endangered species native to China. It is largely dispersed over the main streams of the Yangtze River and coastal regions of Qiantang River, Minjiang River and Pearl River. Most aquatic animals are food for the young of the Chinese Sturgeon, while the adults feed on aquatic insects, larval, diatom and humic substances.

In the 1970's, there there were an estimated 2,000 spawning Chinese sturgeons in the Yangtze River every year. Now that number is down to several hundred due to the threats to its habitat, such as pollution and other human action. The channel for adult fish migrating to traditional spawning sites such as the Jinsha River in the upstream of Yangtze River was blocked after the construction of the Gezhouba Dam hydro-electric power project in the early 1980's. The sturgeon is also highly sensitive to increased noise on the river caused by growing river traffic, as well as being vulnerable to death or injury by boat propellers.

Life cycle

Sturgeon are anadromous meaning they spawn in fresh water and migrate to salt water to mature. The Chinese variety can be considered a large fresh water fish, although it spend part of its life-cycle in seawater, like the salmon.

The Chinese Sturgeon has a habit of upstream migration: they dwell along the coasts of China's eastern areas and migrate back up rivers for propagation upon reaching sexual maturity. It has the longest migration of any sturgeon in the world and once migrated more than 2,000 miles (3,500 kilometers) up the Yangtze. The sturgeon 's reproductive capacity is poor: it may breed three or four times during their life-cycle, and a female sturgeon can carry in excess of a million eggs in one pregnancy, which are released for external fertilisation when mature. The survival rate to hatching is however estimated to be less than 1 percent.

know more about "Chinese Sturgeon"

Protection and research

The primitiveness of the Chinese Sturgeon makes it a great academic interest in taxonomy and biology. For this reason, China has been studying ways to breed and preserve the endangered species, classified as "China's Class One Protected Animals" since 1970's. Built in 1982, the Chinese Sturgeon Museum is part of the Chinese Sturgeon Institution of China which is using such artificial breeding techniques to try to preserve this endangered species.

Re-population program

The Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fisheries Sciences in Jingzhou is one agency charged with breeding sturgeons in captivity for restoring the river population before the species disappears.

Some success has been claimed by the authorities from artificial inducement for spawning and stream discharge for incubation. In April 29, 2005, to mark the twentieth anniversary of the China's efforts to protect the species, over 10,000 sturgeon fry, 200 junior sturgeon and two adult fish were released into the Yangtze River at Yichang. During the course of the project, 5 million fish bred in captivity have been released into the wild.

However, in 2007, 14 young sturgeon were surveyed near the mouth of Yangtze compared with 600 the year before, causing concern that effort was a losing battle in the crowded and polluted Yangtze river.

Gift to Hong Kong

To mark China's hosting the Olympic Games, the Chinese Central Government made a gift of five sturgeon, symbolising the five Olympic rings. Hong Kong's Ocean Park was the recipient of the 5 specimens, two of which were bred by the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute and three by the Beijing Aquarium. The fish made their debut on 20 June 2008. However the smallest one died the next day, apparently caused by being bitten by a barracuda. Although the advice not to segregate the sturgeon from other fish in the same aquarium came from Chinese experts, the marine park was still criticised for carelessness.

On 14 July 2008, it was announced that Hong Kong would receive another five sturgeon from the National Aquatic Wildlife Conservation Association in time for the 8 August opening ceremony, to complement the four fish already in situ. In order to avoid further mishaps, the park's management decided to evict its sharks from their aquarium in favour of the new arrivals.