China News Agency, Yichang, April 9 (Reporter Guo Xiaoying and Dong Xiaobin) "The 2022 Yangtze Three Gorges Chinese Sturgeon Release Event" was held in Yichang City, Hubei Province on the 9th. About 230,000 second-generation Chinese sturgeons set off from the Yangtze River Rare Fish Release Point , "ride" the "slide" and quickly swam into the Yangtze River, rushing to the sea where their ancestors lived more than 1,800 kilometers away.

More than 200,000 Chinese sturgeons were released into the Yangtze River.

Photo by Zhou Xingliang

　　The Chinese sturgeon released this time are the second-generation Chinese sturgeon bred and cultivated by the Three Gorges Group since 2009.

The release continues the scientific strategy of combining "middle, young and young", the maximum age is 13 years old and the minimum age is half a year old.

　　According to Du Hejun, a senior engineer at the Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute of the Three Gorges Group, in order to strengthen the tracking and research on the released Chinese sturgeon, researchers set markers in and out of Chinese sturgeon of different ages and body lengths to carry out release tracking and marine life history research. and other scientific research to form an all-round support for the protection of Chinese sturgeon.

230,000 Chinese sturgeons were released into the Yangtze River in Yichang City, Hubei Province.

Photo by Jing Weidong

　　Chinese sturgeon is one of the oldest vertebrates on earth, with a history of 140 million years. It is known as "living fish fossil" and "water giant panda". It has important scientific research and ecological value.

In recent years, the wild population of Chinese sturgeon has continued to decline. In 1988, it was listed as a national first-class wild animal, and in 2010, it was listed as a critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

　　Over the years, the Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute of China Three Gorges Group has carried out continuous scientific research on the breeding technology, seedling cultivation technology and developmental regulation technology in the artificial population construction of Chinese sturgeon.

In 2009, the institute successfully broke through the second-generation artificial breeding technology of Chinese sturgeon.

In 2021, the institute has successfully achieved 250,000 large-scale seed breeding.

　　Since 1984, the Three Gorges Group has carried out 65 Chinese sturgeon release activities in a row, releasing nearly 5.3 million Chinese sturgeon.

The release of Chinese sturgeon in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River in 2022 is a series of activities. The Three Gorges Group will release 250,000 Chinese sturgeon in three times this spring, about 10,000 on March 26, and about 230,000 on April 9. It will be released on June 6. About 10,000 tails are released daily.

　　"This year's release scale has reached a record high, which is a concentrated outbreak of the accumulation of various technologies and research for decades." Du Hejun introduced that at present, the Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute has mastered the full artificial breeding technology of Chinese sturgeon and established a perfect artificial population echelon of Chinese sturgeon. , made a breakthrough in the early identification technology of Chinese sturgeon sex, proved the sex determination mechanism of Chinese sturgeon, and completed the sequencing of the whole genome of Chinese sturgeon.

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