With the tragic extinction of the Chinese Yangtze River Dolphine, Baiji, the world may soon be faced with another catastrophe! We look at one of the oldest treasured Chinese aquatic animals now most likely to be forced into extinction, the Yangtze Sturgeon!
Severe pollution in the Yangtze River is threatening the existence of the Chinese sturgeon, or Acipenser sinensis, an anadromous fish that has lived on earth for more than 140 million years.
Xinhuanet.com reported the only nesting area for the sturgeon, which is along the Yichang section of Yangtze River in central Hubei province, has been seriously contaminated by sewage discharged by local enterprises.
According to an official with the local environmental protection department, more than one million tonnes of industrial waste water was discharged into the river untreated every year, averaging 3,000 tonnes a day.
An official with the Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute said pollution is one of the major factors causing the deaths of the fish, nicknamed a "living fossil" by researchers for its value in biological evolution studies.
The official said the wastewater bears a high content of toxic chemical elements, which continues to deteriorate water quality in the country's longest river.
Source Credit: http://english.cri.cn/2906/2007/04/13/[email protected]
http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2016-04/20/content_38286610.htm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-29201926
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