Yichang >> The Research Institute of Chinese Sturgeon

Attraction Typ: Galleries, Palast and Museums

Location: about 10 km from city

Recommend: 4 Star

The Research Institute of Chinese Sturgeon

The Research Institute of Chinese Sturgeon is the only professional institution using artificial breeding techniques to try to preserve Chinese Sturgeon which is endangered in China.

The Research Institute of Chinese Sturgeon (Chinese: 中华鲟研究所; pinyin: Zhōnghuáxún Yánjiūsuǒ) is the only professional institution using artificial breeding techniques to try to preserve Chinese Sturgeon which is endangered in China.

The institution is situated on the islet in Xiaoxita in Yichang City. The Chinese Sturgeon Museum is part of the institution, built in 1982. The Chinese Sturgeon is thought to have lived at the same time as dinosaurs, dating back to a period 140 million years ago. Because of that, it is sometimes also known as a living fossil. It is an animal strictly protected by the Chinese government, named a "national treasure" much like its mammalian counterpart, the Giant Panda.

The Chinese Sturgeon is mainly distributed in the trunk tributaries of the Yangtze River and some coastal rivers. Between the summer and autumn every year, it used to swim to the upper reaches of the Yangtze to spawn then carried its fry back to the lower reaches. However, since the building of the famous Gezhouba Water Conservancy Project in the 1980s, the Chinese sturgeon's migration route has been obstructed by the dam. As a result, the Chinese government is taking more measures to protect this kind of valuable and rare species and then they built the Research Institute of Chinese Sturgeon.

In the museum, there not only exhibit the Chinese Sturgeon but also the Russia sturgeon, American paddlefish, Amur sturgeon, Hybrid sturgeon and many more. In addition, you will have chance to see the Chinese alligator, also named as Yangtze alligator.