Recently, the Yangtze River Daily reporter learned from the Yangtze River Academy of Sciences that the key fish in the source of the Yangtze River, the small-headed naked cracked Jiri (kāo) fish, has achieved large-scale artificial breeding.
It is a large and medium-sized fish unique to China, a key protected fish in Qinghai Province, and one of the two key fishes in the yangtze river source water ecosystem.
Fertilized eggs of key fish from the source of the Yangtze River in hatching. Photo courtesy of the Yangtze River Academy of Sciences of the Yangtze River Commission
Artificially hatched juveniles. Photo courtesy of the Yangtze River Academy of Sciences of the Yangtze River Commission
In 2020, the Yangtze River Academy of Sciences realized the artificial reproduction technology of the fish, mastered the optimal sexual maturity time node of the adult fish, the water temperature demand process of embryonic development and the key membrane water temperature, providing a foundation for large-scale artificial reproduction.
This year, according to local conditions, researchers conceived and established an intensive incubation system that is both water-saving, easy to control temperature, easy to change water, easy to oxygenate and easy to pick egg seedlings, overcoming the difficulty of lack of flowing water incubation facilities.
From June 12 to 28, researchers from the Yangtze River Academy of Sciences carried out artificial incubation at the Jiangyuan Base of the Yangtze River Academy of Sciences in Zaduo County, Yushu Prefecture, at an altitude of 4,060 meters. Successfully hatched 20,000 newborn juveniles and survived well. This marks the success of large-scale artificial breeding of key fish in the source of the Yangtze River.
The relevant person in charge of the Yangtze River Academy of Sciences said that it is of long-term significance to realize the large-scale artificial breeding of key fish in the source of the Yangtze River. It not only makes it possible to artificially conserve key fish at the source of the Yangtze River on a large scale, but also provides rich experimental materials for assessing the impact of changes in the hydrological situation caused by climate change (such as water temperature, flood process changes, etc.) on the water ecosystem of the Source Water of the Yangtze River.
At present, the Yangtze River Academy of Sciences is using large-scale artificial breeding of piglets as experimental materials to carry out water temperature and salinity tolerance threshold experiments to assess the impact of rising water temperature caused by climate change and the increase in salinity after the spillage of salt lakes on the viability of key fish in the source water ecosystem of the Yangtze River. (Yangtze River Daily reporter Wang Yiren correspondent Lei Lei)
【Editor: Wang Jixin】