Stork River Homer loach Henan "own fish"

The adult loach of the Stork River Homer is only more than ten centimeters long. Photo courtesy of Henan Provincial Fish Resources Survey Team

Dahe Network News (Henan Daily reporter Zhao Tongzeng) "Stork River Homer loach", which is the first new species of fish discovered and named by the Henan scientific research team in the territory of our province, and "announced the identity" on the international academic platform, can be said to be the first "100% property rights" "own fish" owned by our province.

"The Stork River is where it was found, and homer loach is its genus name." On November 10, Nie Guoxing, professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Fisheries of Henan Normal University, told reporters that after the fish resources survey team of Henan Province led by him discovered the fish, combined with the biological morphological characteristics, the molecular biology means were repeatedly analyzed and compared to confirm that this was a brand new fish species, and named it according to international practice.

Not long ago, the paper of Nie Guoxing's team on the discovery of the Stork River Homer loach was adopted and published by the Scientific Citation Index (SCI) source journal "Journal of Biodiversity Data (BDJ)", which means that the "identity" of this new species of fish has been recognized by the academic community worldwide.

"Of course, the 'child' of his own family has to choose his own name, which is a 'face problem'!" Nie Guoxing said that about 80% of the known freshwater fish in China have "foreign names", such as the "white stripe" we commonly call, which was originally a fish native to China and existed in a large area, but it was preemptively named by foreigners as early as 130 years ago, as well as the familiar carp, grass carp, etc. This is the case, which has made domestic aquatic researchers feel extremely depressed for many years.

"Face" is important, "Lizi" is more important.

According to Nie Guoxing, the Stork River Homer loach is only found in the Stork River Basin, a very small number, and is facing the danger of extinction at any time in today's increasingly increasing environmental impact of human activities. Now that the distribution area and living habits of the Stork River Homer loach have been mastered, the relevant departments can carry out rescue protection in a timely and effective manner by building targeted methods such as protected areas.

"Fish is the most important source of high-end protein in daily diets, and aquatic germplasm resources are an important part of the development of the seed industry." Nie Guoxing said that without germplasm resources, even if there is superb breeding technology, it is impossible to breed good fish varieties. After the discovery of the Stork River Homer loach, the scientific research team can use modern breeding technology to appropriately develop and utilize germplasm resources while protecting fish stocks, fully excavate its edible and ornamental value, and further enrich our tables and fish tanks.

Nie Guoxing revealed that his team has also discovered and named 7 other new fish species, which will also be collectively featured on international academic platforms in the near future.

"The Yangtze River, the Yellow River, the Huai River, and the Hai River all flow through Henan, and the seven major freshwater basins in China are uniquely occupied by our province, and the fish resources are very rich." Nie Guoxing said that the discovery and research of fish resources has a long way to go, and his team will continue to cultivate deeply and carefully, so that Henan will have more and more "own fish".