This is the largest number of second filial generation Chinese sturgeons set free into the river by the Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute (CSRI) of the China Three Gorges Corporation. It was carried out in Yichang, central China's Hubei Province.
In 2010, the CSRI released five second filial generation Chinese sturgeons into the wild for the first time, indicating researchers would not have to catch wild ones for breeding.
The sturgeons sent back to the wild this time include fries, junior and adult ones born between 2009 and 2019 and are expected to enrich the age echelon of the wild group, and enhance their generic diversity, said Jiang Wei, a researcher with the CSRI.
Experts will follow their migration and reproduction activities through a sonar tracking system.
Believed to have lived at the same time as dinosaurs, the Chinese sturgeon, or "Acipenser Sinensis," has existed for more than 140 million years.
Since 1984, the CSRI has carried out several releases of Chinese sturgeons bred in captivity. This is the 62nd batch of such release, and after this, the CSRI has sent about 28,000 second filial generation Chinese sturgeons into the river.
It was in 2019 that the CSRI announced a reproductive breakthrough that the artificial propagation of the Chinese sturgeon would no longer count on wild fish as they have achieved artificial insemination and spawning of cultured sturgeons. Enditem
