China releases rare fish into Yangtze river tributary

CHENGDU, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Some 291,000 fish, including the rare mullet and 7,000 Chinese sturgeon, were released into the Minjiang River, a major tributary of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River on Thursday.

The fish release, organized by Sichuan Port and Shipping Investment Group, took place in Qianwei County, southwest China's Sichuan Province. The move was aimed at promoting the biodiversity of the river and increasing local fishery resources.

Before the release, the researchers marked the fish and collected samples, so as to facilitate future propagation monitoring and effectiveness evaluation of the release.

The Chinese sturgeon is a species under first-class state protection in China while the mullet is under second-class protection.

Nicknamed "aquatic pandas," the Chinese sturgeon has existed for more than 140 million years. However, the population of the flagship species in the Yangtze plummeted in the late 20th century due to intrusive human activities.