China News Service, Xining, January 1st, title: Qinghai Lake naked carp "kindergarten teacher": guarding the safe wintering of the "elves" of the holy lake on the plateau
Author Li Jiangning
"After winter, the plateau temperature is low. Although Qinghai Lake naked carps are cold-water fish, they have low oxygen tolerance. In winter, the oxygen content of the plateau gradually decreases. It is extremely important to help them survive the winter. This is like a kindergarten for naked carps. Here they grow up from needle-sized fry to first-year-old fry, and finally send them back to Qinghai Lake.” said Tian Wengen, head of the original breeding farm of Qinghai Lake Naked Carp Rescue Center.
Naked carp lives in Qinghai Lake, the largest saltwater lake in inland China. As the only large-scale wild commercial fish in Qinghai Lake, naked carp occupies the core position of the "water-fish-bird-grass" ecosystem.
In 2004, it was listed as an endangered species in the "Red List of Chinese Species" by the China Commission for International Cooperation in Environment and Development.
The Qinghai Lake Naked Carp Rescue Center, known as the "kindergarten" of naked carps, is located in Xining, Qinghai. There are 18 outdoor fishing grounds with a total area of 15,000 square meters. There are 20 million Qinghai Lake naked carp fry overwintering here.
Tian Wengen is a "kindergarten teacher" in this "kindergarten". For ten years, Tian Wengen has been accompanying and caring for a batch of "school" naked carp fry babies.
The picture shows the naked carp eggs of Qinghai Lake.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Jun
"There have been several snowfalls since the beginning of winter this year. Every morning when I get up, I see snowfall. The first reaction is to come and sweep the snow quickly." Tian Wengen said.
Since there is no aeration equipment in outdoor fishing grounds, the only way to generate oxygen is plankton in the water through photosynthesis. If snow falls on the ice layer, sunlight cannot penetrate under the ice layer, and it is easy to cause hypoxia.
In winter, timely snow removal is a very important task for "kindergarten teachers".
According to a reporter from China News Agency, in order to evacuate the stocking density of outdoor fishing grounds, some fry were transferred to the circulating water constant temperature nursery workshop.
"The constant temperature circulating water workshop is the Qinghai Lake Naked Carp Rescue Center that has introduced advanced constant temperature circulating aquaculture systems at home and abroad. The technicians in the center continue to explore and summarize during the constant temperature circulating water breeding process, so that the growth specifications of Qinghai Lake naked carp have increased year by year. The initial 7.5 cm to 10 cm has grown to about 15 cm today, and the body weight has increased from 10 grams to about 16 grams. Physical fitness has improved." Zhu Ganxiang, a worker in the constant temperature circulating water fry workshop, said.
"We have also been constantly understanding the habits and reproduction characteristics of naked carp during the past ten years. It used to be extensively cultivated, mainly by naked eyes, and cultivated with fat water. Now the cultivation is more and more refined, and the bait fed is based on the mouth of the fish. There are many types of cleavage, and the hatching rate has now reached more than 90%." Tian Wengen said.
The fish fry sent to the Qinghai Lake Naked Carp Rescue Center each year have corresponding files. One year later, the released year-old fish will return to the river where they came from.
"Which river the Huangyu was born in, where will it go back when it grows up. Therefore, Qinghai Lake naked carp has also formed its own group, such as Buha River Naked Carp Group, Shaliu River Naked Carp Group, Quanji River Naked Carp Group, Carp group, Heimahe naked carp group, etc. This is why we want to establish fish files to protect the population." said Shi Jianquan, director of Qinghai Lake Naked Carp Rescue Center.
Since the large-scale breeding and release in 2002, 156 million original Qinghai Lake naked carp seedlings from Qinghai Lake naked carp rescue center have contributed 23% to the recovery of Qinghai Lake naked carp resources.
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