Baby fish, scientific name, Chinese giant salamander.
Its ancestors evolved from a fish that lived in water about 360 million years ago (paleozoic Devonian period).
This walking fish slowly evolved into the ancestors of reptiles and mammals.
However, compared with other species, the baby fish has maintained its own "original characteristics" in the course of historical evolution and developed to this day.
In other words, it is an ancient species.
Even older than the dinosaurs that lived 230 million years ago.
At present, the world's earliest Chinese giant salamander fossils have been found in Inner Mongolia, China, about 165 million years ago.
You might be thinking: Inner Mongolia? Isn't that an extremely dry place? Where can baby fish live?
In fact, the geological environment we see now is very different from that of hundreds of millions of years ago.
However, it is speculated that there were many such salamanders living on the Chinese mainland.
They are widely distributed.
Giant salamander is widely distributed in Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi.
Generally, caves and grottoes in the deep pools of the creek below 1000 meters above sea level are more common in caves above and below the beach mouth.
Baby fish have a wide range of feeding habits, mainly crabs, frogs, fish, shrimp and aquatic insects, and their larvae.
Don't look at the name with a "doll", it looks mild, but it is actually a fierce carnivore.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >01_ the largest amphibian</h1>
Baby fish cubs are only the size of fingers, but they can grow into behemoths in the future.
Adult dolls are now recorded to have a maximum body size of 2 meters.
Pick it up, it's like a terrible monster.
The reason why the baby fish can grow so big is its super ability to live.
It can be done without eating for two or three years after a full meal.
Then, under the accumulation of the world, little by little it grows into a behemoth.
Theoretically, the baby fish can go on forever.
But, obviously, this situation is unrealistic.
The average baby fish is about 50-60 years old, and some can live for nearly 100 years.
There have been several mass extinctions in the history of biological development.
The baby fish is lucky to survive, which is all related to its super adaptability.
For example, its neighbor dinosaurs are very unlucky, although they once flaunted their might and scenery.
However, the dinosaurs were quickly starved to death after losing their food.
The baby fish, on the other hand, was fortunate to survive to this day through this ability to live.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >02_ "baby crying" call</h1>
Let's listen to the baby fish first.
This sound does have a resemblance to a baby's call.
It is actually a baby fish exhaling gas on the surface of the water with its mouth, and then the gas creates bubbles on the surface of the water.
Finally, a specific sound formed by the squeeze vibration of the bubbles.
It is an important medium for baby fish to communicate with each other.
In particular, when in heat, they call out to each other.
Of course, we don't know much about whether the baby fish's cry has another meaning besides estrus.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >03_ Challenge of endangered living fossils</h1>
Due to the high economic value of baby fish, overfishing is becoming more and more serious for consumption, especially from the 1980s to 1990s.
Coupled with the pollution of rivers and rivers, the ecological environment has been destroyed, resulting in a sharp decline in the number of baby fish, and many places have exhausted resources and are even on the verge of extinction.
The Qinling, Bashan and Micangshan areas in southern Shaanxi are the areas with the most suitable climate and the largest number of wild giant salamanders in China.
In the early 1980s, the giant salamander resources were still very rich, and giant salamander activities could often be seen in the river channels in the mountains of Hanzhong City.
Around 1990, the number of giant salamanders in Hanzhong City decreased sharply, and in 1991, the survey found that the resource reserves of giant salamanders were still large, with stocks of 22,000 to 23,000 tails.
But today, the natural salamander is almost extinct, and the presence of the salamander is not seen in the river.
In the 1950s, the three counties of Sangzhi, Dayong and Cili purchased and exported 50,000 kilograms of giant salamanders every year, and the resources of giant salamanders decreased rapidly after the 1980s.
From 2006 to 2008, Luo Qinghua et al. surveyed the distribution area and resource quantity of giant salamanders in Zhangjiajie City and found that only 2001 wild resources remained.
The amount of giant salamander resources in Shanxi Province was about 10 tons in the late 1970s, and by 1994 it had plummeted to about 2 tons, and the giant salamander in some rivers and streams had disappeared.
Before the 1970s, almost all streams in the Baotianman Nature Reserve in Neixiang had giant salamanders, and in the late 1980s, they were only seen in alpine streams, and it was difficult to see them in the 1990s, and the 2010 survey proved that there was no giant salamander distribution.
Guizhou Qiandong, Wuling Mountain area was once the main production area of giant salamander, the creek river often can be seen in the giant salamander, in the 1980s the giant salamander resource reserves fell sharply, only sporadic distribution, and mostly live in karst underground dark rivers, not easy to find and investigate.
Anhui Anhui southern mountains and Dabie mountainous areas of the natural environment is superior, giant salamander has been widely distributed, rich in resources, in 1994 Anhui Fisheries Bureau to carry out a comprehensive survey of the province's giant salamander resources found that there are 36.5 ~ 56.2 tons, but is decaying at an alarming rate, many places have been extinct.
It can be seen that the wild population of the Chinese giant salamander has declined sharply, and the species resources are almost depleted.
As an ancient ancestor known as a "living fossil", the baby fish has been listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN) ver 3.1 - critically endangered (CR) in 2006, "China's Key Protected Wildlife" - II. level, "Washington Convention " ( CITES ) Appendix I. protected animals.
By the way, if you walk somewhere, the locals may "locally" invite you to eat baby fish.
In fact, this baby fish is farmed.
Wild baby fish are now rare, and the reason why the state allows breeding is nothing more than to save this poor species from another perspective.
Remember! Fishing for wild baby fish is illegal and is explicitly prohibited and discouraged!