Disappearing for over 40 years, reappearing in Qinghai to recreate the endangered and rare fish basin on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau | Fish | Qinghai Tibet Plateau
Recently, the reporter learned from the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Supervision Bureau of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province that the unique and rare fish species of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, the slender tailed catfish, has reappeared after disappearing for more than 40 years in the Lancang River basin, the source of the three rivers in China.
It is reported that the Northwest Plateau Biology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Law Enforcement Bureau of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Law Enforcement Department of Nangqian County, carried out relevant fish resources investigation and germplasm collection in the Nangqian section of Zhaqu basin in the upper reaches of the Lancang River in the source region of the three rivers in China, and found for the first time the endangered and rare fish in the upper reaches of the Lancang River, Siphophorus tenuis.
![Disappearing for over 40 years, reappearing in Qinghai to recreate the endangered and rare fish basin on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau | Fish | Qinghai Tibet Plateau](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/e67e1f8ead9dff39f1829c824f87c544.jpg)
According to researcher Zhao Kai, doctoral supervisor of the Northwest Plateau Biology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Siphophora tenuis is a unique fish in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau and the only carnivorous benthic native fish in the source basin of the three rivers of the Lancang River. It has strict requirements on the habitat environment and is an ecological indicator species that indirectly reflects the living conditions of aquatic organisms in the water body. This species has not been monitored and discovered in the Lancang River Basin of the Three Rivers Source in Qinghai Province, except for a small amount of records in the 1970s. It was once considered extinct or extremely endangered in the region. This survey infers that the species has a very small population and a narrow distribution range. Currently, there is only a simple description of its biological characteristics, and there is a lack of in-depth research on its population size, population structure, and genetic germplasm resources.
In recent years, the Agriculture and Rural Department of Qinghai Province has made key deployments to carry out background investigations of aquatic biological resources within the province, and increased efforts in water ecological protection and fishing bans. This investigation found the slender tailed catfish and all historically recorded native fish species in the upper reaches of the Lancang River, indicating that the integrity of aquatic biological resources in the water area is well maintained and the effectiveness of the fishing ban is significant. This work also fills the gap in real-time monitoring data of the slender tailed catfish in Qinghai Province, providing a basis for fish diversity protection and aquatic organism integrity evaluation in the three river source areas of China.
![Disappearing for over 40 years, reappearing in Qinghai to recreate the endangered and rare fish basin on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau | Fish | Qinghai Tibet Plateau](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/fefd28f4af9077505a0cdd49e8e8c2a7.gif)