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Recently, researchers accidentally discovered five Yangtze sturgeons in the waters of the Three Gorges Reservoir area. Known as the "giant panda in the water", this precious fish was once thought to be extinct in the wild. Now that they're back in front of our eyes, it's an incredible surprise.
The Yangtze sturgeon used to be an important economic fish in the Yangtze River, but its population has been declining and endangered due to environmental degradation and uncontrolled fishing. Now that they have reappeared, there is no doubt that they bring new hope to ecological conservation work.
The "giant panda in the water" reappeared
On June 16 this year, in the Yunyang section of the Tangxi River of the Yangtze River in Chongqing in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, researchers were pleasantly surprised to find five Yangtze sturgeons swimming during routine monitoring.
The five Yangtze sturgeons were of different sizes and weights, and measurements found that they were 48-92 centimeters long and weighed between 1,990-4,350 grams. This is also the first time that the Yangtze River sturgeon has been recorded in the Tangxi River section.
These Yangtze sturgeons vary in size, which means they are likely to be a "family of five" of different ages. More importantly, this finding suggests that there are likely to be more Yangtze sturgeons living here in the Tangxi River section, and it also marks the beginning of ecological protection measures in the Yangtze River waters.
The Yangtze sturgeon, also known as the "Da's sturgeon", is an ancient fish that mainly inhabits the waters of the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River. They have a unique appearance, with a spindle-shaped body with a blue-gray back, a creamy white belly, and a body covered with large, hard bone plates of the five elements, which not only provide defense, but also make them look majestic when swimming in the water.
The Yangtze sturgeon prefers to swim at the bottom of the river, usually staying in shallow waters at a depth of 8-10 meters, and especially prefers to swim around in areas with rocky sandy bottoms and pebbles in search of food.
In winter, they overwinter in slow-flowing river channels. When spring arrives and the temperature rises above 12°C, they travel upstream to feed and breed in the main tributaries upstream. In spring and autumn, when the water temperature is 16--19°C, they will lay eggs, the number of which can reach 6-130,000 grains.
The Yangtze sturgeon feeds mainly on benthic small invertebrates, such as mayflies, dragonfly larvae, clams and oligochaetes. In addition to this, they will eat some debris of aquatic plants, algae, and humus, and sometimes catch fry and juveniles.
The history of the Yangtze sturgeon
For a long time, the Yangtze sturgeon was an economic fish. It has been known and eaten by people as early as thousands of years ago. In ancient times, the Yangtze sturgeon used to be an important edible fish, and its meat was delicious and nutritious, and it was known as "the delicacy of the river".
Before the 80s of the last century, the Yangtze sturgeon was a key fishing target for fishermen and an important source of income for the fishery. In the 60s of the last century, the Yangtze sturgeon accounted for 10% of the fishery catch in Hejiang County, Sichuan, and in the 70s, the catch of the Yangtze River sturgeon in the spring of the Yibin section of the Yangtze River reached 5 tons.
In 1981, the completion of the first phase of the Gezhouba hydropower plant cut off the migratory routes of the Yangtze sturgeons, preventing them from completing their reproductive cycles. Coupled with overfishing and environmental pollution, the living environment of the Yangtze sturgeon is becoming worse and worse, and the number is getting smaller and smaller.
Between 1984 and 1996, a total of 151 Yangtze sturgeons were recorded in the waters of the Luzhou and Yibin sections of the Yangtze River in Sichuan. However, since 2000, juvenile Yangtze sturgeon have not been found in the wild. Experts believe this is a sign that the natural reproduction of the Yangtze sturgeon may have stopped.
In the following decades, although many wild Yangtze sturgeons were monitored, the number was about a few hundred, and all of them were proliferated and released. In 2022, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) updated the news and declared the Yangtze sturgeon extinct in the wild.
Faced with this situation, ecological experts and the government have adopted a series of conservation measures. In 2021, a 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River provided a relatively safe environment for rare fish such as the Yangtze sturgeon.
In addition, the population of Yangtze sturgeons has gradually recovered in recent years through artificial breeding and release, as evidenced by the five Yangtze sturgeons that have appeared in the Three Gorges Reservoir area.
The fate of the Chinese sturgeon and the white sturgeon
In addition to the Yangtze sturgeon, there are two equally important sturgeons in the Yangtze River, the Chinese sturgeon and the white sturgeon, but their fate is even more tragic.
The Chinese sturgeon, an ancient fish, is known as a "living fossil" and lives mainly in the main stream of the Yangtze River and its main tributaries. They are larger, up to 3 meters long and weigh up to 300 kilograms. Every autumn, they travel up the ocean to breed in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
However, with the construction of water conservancy projects in the Yangtze River basin and the intensification of environmental pollution, the population of Chinese sturgeon has also declined sharply.
The white sturgeon is huge, up to 7 meters long and weighs more than 900 kilograms, which is endemic to the Yangtze River. Because of its long snout, it is also known as the "elephant fish". They live mainly in the main stream and tributaries of the Yangtze River and are also migratory fish.
Every spring, the white sturgeon swims upstream to spawn in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. In the 70s of the last century, the catch of white sturgeon was still quite large, but after entering the 80s, with the construction of water conservancy projects in the main stream of the Yangtze River, the white sturgeon population also suffered a catastrophe, and the number continued to decrease.
After 1993, the white sturgeon was almost extinct in the Yangtze River. In January 2003, a fisherman accidentally caught a white sturgeon more than 3 meters in the Yangtze River in Yibin. After being rescued, the white sturgeon was released back into the river. It was also the last time a sturgeon was seen, and there has been no record of any such sightings since. In 2022, the IUCN announced that the white sturgeon was completely extinct.
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The extinction of the white sturgeon and the endangerment of the Chinese sturgeon are a wake-up call for us. If effective conservation measures are not taken, other species in the Yangtze ecosystem may face the same fate. Protecting the Yangtze River is not only to protect these ancient fish, but also to maintain the balance of the entire ecosystem.
Although the Yangtze sturgeon population has begun to recover through the fishing ban and artificial breeding, we should not take this lightly. Ecological restoration is a long-term and arduous task, and only by continuing to strengthen protection, promote the policy of banning fishing, and strengthen environmental governance can we restore the number of more rare species and effectively improve the ecological status of the Yangtze River.
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