The Yellow River is the second longest river in China, and the fish resources are originally very rich, but due to the small amount of water in the Yellow River, the average annual flow is less than a fraction of the Yangtze River, coupled with the impact of the interruption of the flow in the last century, many fish have suffered from the disaster.
Among them, the pigeon fish is a mysterious existence for the Yellow River.
Photos of "pigeon fish" circulating on the Internet
Pigeon fish, also known as the northern copper fish (folk customs call it pigeon fish), are only distributed in the Yellow River system. According to legend, the pigeon fish was an ancient court fish, which was exclusively for the royal family to eat. In the Republic of China period, the price of a good pigeon fish was also around 200 yuan, which shows its preciousness.
The main reason why pigeon fish is regarded as a royal treasure is that it is too delicious. In the Ningxia area, there is also a saying that "the chicken in the goose meat mountain in the sky is no better than the pigeon fish in the Yellow River".
This delicacy not only makes pigeon fish famous, but also makes them suffer.
If you think about it, a pigeon fish can be sold for hundreds of dollars, and naturally some people flock to it. Although they prefer to live in the rapids of the Yellow River and are difficult to catch, during spawning, they also swim to shallow waters on the shore, which gives fishermen a great opportunity.
Pigeon fish are mainly distributed in the Zhongwei area of Ningxia, and also in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in Henan and Shandong (later confirmed to be non-pigeon fish), but the number is small. In addition to human factor fishing, excessive water conservancy development is also an important reason for the endangerment of pigeon fish.
As migratory fish, pigeon fish travel long distances against the river to find spawning grounds during spawning season. But dams on the Yellow River artificially block them, which also blocks their chances of genetic interaction with each other.
In 2014, a fisherman in Ningxia caught three or four pigeon fish every time he went out to fish, and now he can't even see one a year.
Similarly, in the Xiaolangdi Reservoir in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, as well as in the Zhengzhou and Jinan sections, there have been many pigeon fish stocks from 2016 to 2017, and many local anglers have caught them, which also fully shows that the population density of pigeon fish has been restored and supplemented.
Pigeon fish that has been misinformed before should be a large-nosed snout
But just when netizens were happy for the pigeon fish, a piece of news that followed made people completely cold.
According to fish experts, most of the pigeon fish pictures currently circulating on the Internet are not pigeon fish, but another fish with a very similar appearance, called the big nose snout.
The "pigeon fish" that appears in Henan and Shandong is actually a large nose-kissed catfish, which has always been called "pigeon fish" by everyone, one is because their body size is too similar; the other is the live body of the pigeon fish, most people have not seen it, and even a clear picture is difficult to find.
A very vague photo of a "pigeon fish"
This fully proves that their endangerment has reached the point of "extinction", and if they are not systematically protected, I am afraid that their next fate is functional extinction.
Although pigeon fish are very rare, unfortunately, it was not until February 2021 that they were included in the list of key protected animals and became a national first-class protected fish.
This is also a late love for pigeon fish.
But it is very embarrassing that the pigeon fish, which has just been promoted to the first level of protection fish, is now difficult to find alive, and even a standard photo cannot be found. No one knows it, and there is no corresponding basis for protection. Previously, the photos of pigeon fish on the Internet were confirmed to be mostly large-nosed snouts, not the real northern copper fish - pigeon fish.
Therefore, the Internet rumors about the pigeon fish that appeared in Henan and Shandong are most likely that people will misidentify the big nose snout as a northern copper fish. Such a situation made the pigeon fish, who was promoted to the first level of protection fish, once very embarrassing. Don't say that ordinary people don't know it, I'm afraid that even many fishermen and anglers will recognize it as wrong, which is very detrimental to conservation work.
Becoming a first-class protected fish, but it is difficult to find live and no one knows, this is the embarrassing situation faced by pigeon fish. After entering the list of key animal protection, it is difficult to say whether the fate of pigeon fish will change because of this!
From the perspective of water resource development alone, the dangers they face are far from being eliminated.
It is reported that in the hometown of pigeon fish, Ningxia Zhongwei Black Mountain Gorge, to develop a large water conservancy hub project, which is not good news for the originally very endangered northern copper fish.
The large dam to be built is probably another insurmountable gap for pigeon fish, causing them to be unable to migrate normally. Of course, this is also a test for the designers of water conservancy projects. Can you design a fish track for migratory fish? How will designers decide? Everything has yet to be tested by time.
A photo circulating on the Internet that is not very clear
Under such unfavorable circumstances, it is no longer time to carry out systematic protection for the Yellow River pigeon fish!
But in any case, we hope that the pigeon fish, which has just been upgraded to a first-class protected fish, can continue to breed in the hometown where they have survived for thousands of years.
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PS: If you have photos of the northern copper fish - pigeon fish, please provide them to us for publicity and protection.