Wild Chinese Sturgeon faces extinction

BEIJING: The wild Chinese Sturgeons, believed to have lived since the age of dinosaurs, had no natural reproduction last year, leaving the rare species of fish at the risk of extinction, according to a latest research.

"It is the first time that we found no natural reproduction of the endangered sturgeons since records began 32 years ago when a dam was built," said Wei Qiwei, a principal investigator at the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences.

The number of wild Chinese Sturgeons has sharply declined to around 100 from thousands in the 1980s, mainly due to human activities and water pollution, Wei said.

Researchers found no eggs laid by the wild sturgeons in a river water area downstream the Gezhou Dam in central China's Hubei Province between October 31 and December 28 last year, he told state run Xinhua news agency yesterday.

Wild sturgeons usually swim all the way from the sea waters to the river area to lay eggs around mid and late November after they become mature.

Meanwhile, a monthlong research starting August 10 last year found no young sturgeons swimming all the way along the Yangtze river to the sea waters. Young sturgeons usually swim downstream to the sea in August.

"No natural reproduction means that the sturgeons would not expand its population and without protection, they might risk in extinction," Wei said.

The fish, nicknamed aquatic pandas, is listed as a wild creature under the national top protection.