Teaching people to "fish" and teaching people to "fish", Liu Yun, Liu Shaojun father and son ——
One door and two academicians, all their lives as fish idiots (children of nature)
Reporter He Yong
People's Daily (2021-01-25, 14th edition)
Core reading
The 10-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River can effectively protect aquatic organisms. In the protection of fishery resources, in addition to the ban on fishing, relevant research has not slackened.
In order to solve the problem of seedling breeding in aquaculture, the late Liu Yun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a famous freshwater fish breeding physiologist, contributed his life's work. Academician Liu Shaojun, the son of Academician Liu Jun, followed in the footsteps of his father and focused on the study of artificial breeding methods of freshwater fish for more than 30 years.
"When my father was young, he always liked to take a few of our children to the Yuelu fishing ground in the suburbs. In the fishing ground, my father was busy with his experiments, and I bottled fish in cans on the shore, and I met grass carp, carp, crucian carp... Like him, after graduating from Hunan Normal University, I also chose freshwater fish research as my academic direction. He's been studying all his life, and I've been studying for over 30 years. Liu Shaojun, a 59-year-old academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the State Key Laboratory of Developmental Biology of Freshwater Fish at Hunan Normal University, said.
Liu Shaojun's father was the late Liu Jun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a famous freshwater fish breeding physiologist. Father and son are both academicians of fish research and also work at Hunan Normal University.
Study the artificial breeding method of four large fish
"Freshwater fish such as bluefish, grass carp, silver carp, bighead carp and other freshwater fish are not expensive, and they have made an important contribution to providing people with high-quality protein for fish." Liu Shaojun said.
Born in 1929, Liu Jun graduated from Hunan University and was assigned to work at Hunan Normal University (the predecessor of Hunan Normal University) and has been committed to fish reproduction research. He is one of the main founders of the artificial breeding method of green, grass, silver carp and bighead carp in China, and one of the main founders of the basic theoretical research of the four big fish in China; he led the research team and made a breakthrough in the artificial breeding technology of grass carp earlier. He led the team to breed heterologous tetraploid crucian carp for the first time in the world, using the tetraploid carp to breed Xiangyun crucian carp, Xiangyun carp, larger than ordinary carp, crucian carp, fast growth rate, strong disease resistance, especially high glutamic acid content, delicious taste, a good solution to the quality of fish problems.
Zhou Gongjian, who has worked in Liu Jun's research group for a long time, recalled: "Carp and crucian carp began to spawn during the stinging festival, grass carp began to spawn in April and May, we had to go to the fishing ground in early March, and basically from March to September at the base." Fish usually spawn in the early hours of the morning, when we will crouch at the water's edge to observe, often until dawn. "In 1995, Liu Yun was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering." Even after the academician was evaluated, he stayed by the pond with us, completely ignoring mosquito bites. Zhou Gongjian said.
Let people eat more and better fish
Walking into the Freshwater Fish Developmental Biology Laboratory of the College of Life Sciences of Hunan Normal University, the most eye-catching thing in the corridor is the fish swimming around in the aquarium: Xiangyun crucian Carp No. 2, Hybrid Bream, Bream Hybrid Fish, and Hefang Crucian Carp - these are the 4 excellent varieties cultivated by Liu Shaojun.
Liu Shaojun's assistant Tang Chenchen introduced that Academician Liu Shaojun led the team to solve the reproductive isolation problem in the field of freshwater fish, change the traits of freshwater fish through remote hybridization, and retain the high-quality traits. "Fast growth, good meat quality, strong disease resistance, beautiful appearance, these high-quality characteristics can be retained." Tang Chenchen said.
When choosing distant hybrids to study parents, Liu Shaojun and his team often focus on economic fish such as crucian carp, carp, tuantou bream (commonly known as bream), grass carp, and bream. These fish are more likely to appear in the food spectrum of our country, and studying these "close to the people" fish species can make people eat more and better fish.
Liu Shaojun led the team for decades, insisting on engaging in the research of distant hybridization of fish. He and his team made 37 hybrid combinations over a 30-year period, 30 of which were able to form surviving offspring. Through a series of efforts, liu Shaojun and his scientific research team have bred new fish varieties that grow fast, taste good, and are not easy to get sick, and have been promoted on a large scale.
On the banks of the Xiang River, under the Yuelu Mountains, there are more than 30 fish ponds and more than 100 fish tanks in the experimental base of only 11 acres on the side, which is the scientific research battlefield of Liu Jun and Liu Shaojun. "Fish spawning starts at four or five o'clock in the morning, and we have to observe the spawning of fish, and we have to follow the fish during the work and rest time." Liu Shaojun had become accustomed to this.
In November 2019, 24 years after his father was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Liu Shaojun also received this honor.
Cultivating human resources in the field of aquatic research
"Born in Yuelu, grew up in Yuelu, learned in Yuelu, studied in Yuelu", this is Liu Shaojun's summary of himself.
In terms of academic research and education, the shadow of his father is deeply projected on Liu Shaojun.
Liu Yun died in 2015, but his rigorous and diligent style of governance has always influenced his students. Zhang Chun, who entered the laboratory in 2002, said that when he thinks of Academician Liu Jun, he will think of the crisp sound of the crutch hitting the ground - every morning, the elderly man will appear in the corridor of the laboratory with a crutch, "Da, da, the sound of the crutch is like a timer, let us dare not slacken off, do not dare to waste time." ”
Liu Shaojun obviously inherited such a family style. "I am not only a 'scientific fisherman', but my more important mission is to teach and educate people." For more than 30 years, Liu Shaojun has been adhering to the front line of teaching, caring for students, cultivating nearly 100 doctors and masters, and cultivating a large number of outstanding talents in the field of aquatic research in China.
"Teacher Liu is very strict with scientific research, patrolling the pool at the base 2-3 times a day, 365 days a year, almost every day. Every time he patrols the pool, he can always find out the problems we have not found, the health status of fish, parasites and other problems can be seen at a glance, and it is this rigorous scientific research attitude that makes us more attentive and strict when doing research. Hu Fangzhou, who studied freshwater fish under Liu Shaojun, said.