Webcam Chinese sturgeon at the Beijing Aquarium
The Beijing Aquarium is located on the banks of the Yangtze River in Beijing Zoo, next to the Beijing Exhibition Hall, Planetarium and the Capital Sports Hall. It is an indoor aquarium combining viewing, popular science education, leisure and entertainment, and business exhibitions.
The Chinese sturgeon (lat. Acipenser sinensis) is a species of fish of the sturgeon family.
Scientists believe that this fish species has existed for at least 140 million years.
It is among the largest species of freshwater fish. It ranges from 200 to 500 cm in length, and from 200 to 500 kg in average weight. The largest specimens can weigh 550 kilograms. Adult sturgeons tend to reach sizes up to 4 meters long and over 400 kilograms in live weight.
Chinese sturgeon live along the Chinese coast in the eastern regions and migrate to rivers when they reach sexual maturity. This crossing can be 3,500 km.
The Chinese sturgeon is mainly found in the Yangtze and Zhujiang rivers.
It is a valuable but endangered species and is, according to the Chinese authorities, under special state protection. Over the past 37 years, fish numbers in the wild have declined by 97.5%, due to dam construction, overfishing and pollution of the river. Between 2005 and 2007, only about 250 adults were caught. It is bred in China in a specially created fish hatchery; from 1983 to 2007, more than 9 million artificially bred juveniles were released into rivers, but its survival rate was very low. It breeds in captivity.
