Chinese Sturgeon
Encyclopedia
The Chinese Sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis; ) is a member of the family Acipenseridae and the order Acipenseriformes
.
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 mammal
ian counterpart, the Giant Panda
.
is a comparatively basal species of fish, which date back to the Cretaceous
period. Scientists believe it is a transitional species of cartilaginous fish and bony fish, and is also regarded as a kind of Ganoidei with cartilage. The fish is marked by multiple blocks of osteon
s.
Specimens can range between 200 to 500 cm (78.7 to 196.9 in) in body length, and weigh 200 to 500 kg (440.9 to 1,102.3 lb) on average. A grown-up sturgeon measures up to 4 metres (13.1 ft) long, and weighs over 450 kg (992.1 lb), ranking the third biggest only to the White sturgeon
and Atlantic sturgeon
. Its head is acuminate, with the mouth under its jaw.
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 3200 km (1,988.4 mi) up the Yangtze. The sturgeon's reproductive capacity is poor: it may breed three or four times during its 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.
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 1970s, 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 1980s.
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.
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 1970s.
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. The museum is located on a small island called Xiaoxita in the Huangbo River
, within Yiling District
of Yichang
.
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 29 April 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.
To mark China's hosting the Olympic Games
, the Chinese Central Government made a gift of five sturgeon, symbolising the five Olympic rings to Hong Kong. The fish made their debut in Ocean Park Hong Kong
on 20 June 2008. One of the fish, however, died by January 2009 due to unknown causes.
Acipenseriformes
Acipenseriformes are an order of primitive ray-finned fishes that includes the sturgeons and paddlefishes, as well as some extinct families.Notable characteristics of Acipenseriformes include:* Cartilaginous endoskeleton* Lack of vertebral centrum...
.
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
Living fossil
Living fossil is an informal term for any living species which appears similar to a species otherwise only known from fossils and which has no close living relatives, or a group of organisms which have long fossil records...
. It is an animal strictly protected by the Chinese government, named a "national treasure" much like its mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
ian counterpart, the Giant Panda
Giant Panda
The giant panda, or panda is a bear native to central-western and south western China. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is 99% bamboo...
.
Physical appearance
The sturgeonSturgeon
Sturgeon is the common name used for some 26 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae, including the genera Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. The term includes over 20 species commonly referred to as sturgeon and several closely related species that have distinct common...
is a comparatively basal species of fish, which date back to the Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
period. Scientists believe it is a transitional species of cartilaginous fish and bony fish, and is also regarded as a kind of Ganoidei with cartilage. The fish is marked by multiple blocks of osteon
Osteon
The osteon, or Haversian system, is the fundamental functional unit of much compact bone. Osteons, roughly cylindrical structures that are typically several millimeters long and around 0.2mm in diameter, are present in many of the bones of most mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians.Each osteon...
s.
Specimens can range between 200 to 500 cm (78.7 to 196.9 in) in body length, and weigh 200 to 500 kg (440.9 to 1,102.3 lb) on average. A grown-up sturgeon measures up to 4 metres (13.1 ft) long, and weighs over 450 kg (992.1 lb), ranking the third biggest only to the White sturgeon
White sturgeon
The white sturgeon , also known as the Pacific sturgeon, Oregon sturgeon, Columbia sturgeon, Sacramento sturgeon, and California white sturgeon, is a sturgeon which lives along the west coast of North America from the Aleutian Islands to Central...
and Atlantic sturgeon
Atlantic sturgeon
The Atlantic sturgeon is a member of the Acipenseridae family and is among one of the oldest fish species in the world. Its range extends from New Brunswick, Canada to the eastern coast of Florida. It was in great abundance when the first settlers came to America, but has since declined due to...
. Its head is acuminate, with the mouth under its jaw.
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
Biological life cycle
A life cycle is a period involving all different generations of a species succeeding each other through means of reproduction, whether through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction...
in seawater, like the salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
.
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 3200 km (1,988.4 mi) up the Yangtze. The sturgeon's reproductive capacity is poor: it may breed three or four times during its 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.
Habitat
The Chinese sturgeon is a precious but endangered species native to China. It is largely dispersed over the main streams of the Yangtze RiverYangtze River
The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
and coastal regions of Qiantang River
Qiantang River
The Qiantang River is a southeast Chinese river that originates in the borders of Anhui and Jiangxi provinces and passes through Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, before flowing into the East China Sea through Hangzhou Bay....
, Minjiang River and Pearl River
Pearl River (China)
The Pearl River or less commonly, the "Guangdong River" or "Canton River" etc., , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name Pearl River is usually used as a catchment term to refer to the watersheds of the Xi Jiang , the Bei Jiang , and the Dong Jiang...
. Most aquatic animals are food for the young of the Chinese Sturgeon, while the adults feed on aquatic insects, larval, diatom
Diatom
Diatoms are a major group of algae, and are one of the most common types of phytoplankton. Most diatoms are unicellular, although they can exist as colonies in the shape of filaments or ribbons , fans , zigzags , or stellate colonies . Diatoms are producers within the food chain...
and humic substances.
In the 1970s, 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
Jinsha River
Jinsha River is the westernmost of the major headwater streams of the Yangtze River, southwestern China.Its headwaters rise in the Wulan and Kekexili ranges in western Qinghai province, to the south of the Kunlun Mountains, and on the northern slope of the Tanggula Mountains on the border of the...
in the upstream of Yangtze River was blocked after the construction of the Gezhouba Dam
Gezhouba Dam
The Gezhouba Dam or Gezhouba Water Control Project on the Yangtze River is located in the western suburbs of Yichang City in central China's Hubei province. The dam sits a few kilometers upstream from downtown Yichang, just downstream of the fall of the Huangbo River into the Yangtze. Construction...
hydro-electric power project in the early 1980s.
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.
Protection and research
The primitiveness of the Chinese Sturgeon makes it a great academic interest in taxonomyTaxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
and biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
. For this reason, China has been studying ways to breed and preserve the endangered species, classified as "China's Class One Protected Animals" since 1970s.
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. The museum is located on a small island called Xiaoxita in the Huangbo River
Huangbo River
Huangbo River is a river in China's Hubei Province, a left tributary of the Yangtze River. The Huangbo is located entirely within the prefecture-level city of Yichang. It flows in the general southern direction through Yichang's Yiling District and Yuan'an County, falling into the Yangtze within...
, within Yiling District
Yiling District
Yiling District is a district within the prefecture-level city of Yichang in China's Hubei Province. Created in July 2001, the district includes most of the former Yichang County, with the exception of Yichang center city and certain southern and western suburbs.The land area of Yiling District...
of Yichang
Yichang
Yichang is a prefecture-level city located in Hubei province of the People's Republic of China. It is the second largest city in Hubei province after the province capital, Wuhan. The Three Gorges Dam is located within its administrative area, in Yiling District.-History:In ancient times Yichang...
.
Re-population program
The Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fisheries Sciences in JingzhouJingzhou
Jingzhou is a prefecture-level city in Hubei Province, People's Republic of China. The city is located on the banks of the Yangtze River.Its population is 5,691,707 at the 2010 census whom 1,154,086 in the built up area made of 3 urban districts.-Geography:Jingzhou occupies an area of...
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 29 April 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
Yichang
Yichang is a prefecture-level city located in Hubei province of the People's Republic of China. It is the second largest city in Hubei province after the province capital, Wuhan. The Three Gorges Dam is located within its administrative area, in Yiling District.-History:In ancient times 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.
To mark China's hosting the Olympic Games
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
, the Chinese Central Government made a gift of five sturgeon, symbolising the five Olympic rings to Hong Kong. The fish made their debut in Ocean Park Hong Kong
Ocean Park Hong Kong
Ocean Park Hong Kong , commonly known as Ocean Park, is a marine mammal park, oceanarium, animal theme park and amusement park, situated in Wong Chuk Hang and Nam Long Shan in the Southern District of Hong Kong. Founded in 1977 by the then Governor of Hong Kong Sir Murray MacLehose, Ocean Park has...
on 20 June 2008. One of the fish, however, died by January 2009 due to unknown causes.