WUHAN, China, April 22 Chinese officials have release 400,000 rare fish into the Yangtze River as part of an effort to save the river's fish stocks.
An estimated 110,000 Chinese sturgeon were among the fish released at 11 sites along the river, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The release also included mullet, which are reportedly listed along with sturgeon as protected species.
More than 7 million sturgeon have been released into the Yangtze since 1983, when decreasing water levels and pollution began to take a visible toll on the sturgeon population, Xinhua said.
Conditions were said to be optimal for the release, with the water temperature at 10 to 16 degrees and the Yangtze currently under a fishing ban.
The Chinese sturgeon, one of the oldest vertebrates in the world, is said to have existed for more than 200 million years.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
