Endangered fish sighted in Yangtze River tributary

Two species of endangered fish were spotted on Sunday in the Yunyang section of the Yangxi River, a tributary of the Yangtze River in the Three Gorges Reservoir region. The first species, the Yangtze sturgeon, is under first-class State protection in China. The second, the Ochetobius elongatus, is classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is the first time they've been spotted in the area.

Researchers from the Yangtze River monitoring team at Southwest University compiled data on the two endangered species.

The Yangtze sturgeon, dubbed a national treasure on a par with the giant panda, was added to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 1988. The wild population of the Ochetobius elongatus declined drastically by the end of the 20th century, with no activity records in many production areas in the country for over a decade, leading to its presumed regional extinction, the research team said.

The team released them back into their original habitat after giving them health checks and measuring their biodata.

"The local biodiversity and water resource level are entering a positive development phase thanks to the implementation of the 10-year fishing ban and multiple restocking efforts," said Gao Xuan, a team researcher.

On Jan 1, 2021, China imposed a 10-year fishing ban in pivotal waters of the Yangtze River to increase the populations of aquatic creatures.

Gao added that they have found more than 30 fish species in the local Pengxi River and Tangxi River basins, including three Chinese sucker fish and two Yanyuan carp, both are under second-class State protection in China.