The "Road to Rebirth" of Indigenous Fish Species in Lakes of the Yunnan Plateau

(Biodiversity Conference) "Road to Rebirth" of Indigenous Fish Species in Lakes on the Yunnan Plateau

China News Service Kunming October 6 Title: The "Road to Rebirth" of Indigenous Fish Species in Lakes on the Yunnan Plateau

China News Service reporter Du Xiaoxiao

"In the past, there were a lot of anti-wave fish in Fuxian Lake, and I didn't want them to disappear, so I tried to let them 'swim back' to Fuxian Lake." Yin Shumao has been engaged in the protection of anti-wave fish seed sources for 26 years because of his obsession. Today, at his breeding base, the once-endangered anti-wave fish can reproduce naturally in environments that simulate wild farming.

The anti-wave fish (mandarin white fish) is known as the "Four Famous Fishes of Yunnan" together with the Dianchi Lake golden-threaded catfish, the big head carp and the Dali bowfish. Once a rare indigenous fish unique to the plateau lake Fuxian Lake, the anti-wave fish was greatly reduced in the 1980s due to overfishing and the large number of silver fish, and the number of anti-wave fish fell sharply and was close to endangerment.

There are 629 species of freshwater fish in the south of Caiyun, the "animal kingdom", accounting for about 40% of China's freshwater fish, ranking first in China. Of these, 594 are indigenous species, but 138 are extinct, critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable indigenous fish species. There is still a long way to go to protect the indigenous fish in Yunnan.

Yin Shumao's hometown of Dogjie Town in Yiliang County is only a mountain away from Fuxian Lake, and he was heartbroken to see such a situation, and returned to his hometown in 1995 to do the protection of anti-wave fish seed sources. Initially collected from the fishermen of Fuxian Lake, after wild breeding, artificial domestication and artificial auxiliary breeding, it has developed into a natural breeding of anti-wave fish, and more than 120 million high-quality anti-wave fish fry can be hatched annually.

In the past 26 years, Yin Shumao has conducted a number of studies, and finally explored the simulated wild breeding mode of anti-wave fish, and carried out natural reproduction according to the life habits and genetic diversity of fish, so as to ensure the purity of the fish's seed source, so that the survival rate of the fish reaches about 90%, and the incidence of deformed fish is zero.

Today, Yin Shumao's hatched anti-wave fish have "swum back" to Fuxian Lake. "After observation and experimentation, we found that anti-wave fish can also play a role in purifying water quality and controlling the number of silver fish." Yin Shumao said that his biggest wish is that more indigenous fish in Yunnan can "swim back" to the lake in their hometown to achieve water culture and fish purification.

Many people have the same desire as Yin Shumao. The Chinese government and scientific research institutions have made many efforts in the field of protecting indigenous fish in Yunnan. At the Conservation Base of the Key Laboratory of Plateau Fish Breeding in Yunnan Province, there are 60 fish ponds of various sizes distributed in the 23-acre park. Here has been collected and transferred to the ex-situ conservation base for conservation research of 102 species of indigenous fish in Yunnan, and rare fish such as Dianchi lake golden thread catfish have not only been effectively preserved, but also deeply promoted to sustainable use.

It is understood that the Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Plateau Fish Breeding has established a plateau fish live resource bank and a genetic resource pool, and based on this to carry out variety innovation, and created a new aquatic species of soft-finned new light-lipped fish, a distant hybrid line of goldenrod and carp. Now it has reached the annual output capacity of more than 5 million indigenous fish fry, which can directly drive the annual output value of characteristic fish of more than 100 million yuan.

"We're not just showing the world the fruits of conservation, we're on the road from conservation to sustainable use." Yang Junxing, a researcher at the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Key Laboratory of Plateau Fish Breeding in Yunnan Province, believes that the protection of indigenous fish, once combined with the livelihood of ordinary people, they will be more active in protecting them, and sustainable use is the real protection. (End)

Source: China News Network