The first record of the sixth species of fish in the southern source of the Yangtze River in the Jiangyuan scientific examination | Fish | Yangtze River
Xinhua News Agency, Xining, July 24, 2023- The Jiangyuan Comprehensive Scientific Expedition Team conducted scientific research in Dangqu, the southern source of the Yangtze River on July 24, 2023. On that day, scientific research team members from the Yangtze River Science Academy of the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources collected samples of the Siji Plateau Loach in Dangqu. The study confirmed that the Siji Plateau Loach is the sixth recorded fish species in the southern source of the Yangtze River, and the known fish species in the southern source of the Yangtze River have increased from 5 to 6.
Quickly putting on his drainage pants and holding a fishing net, he fished along the riverbank. Not long after, the scientific expedition team member Liu Han caught more than ten fish. After observing the external morphology and examining the internal structure, the scientific research team conducted a comparative analysis and found that four of the fish were the Siji Plateau Loach.
Li Wei collected fish samples on the banks of the Dangqu River in the southern source of the Yangtze River. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Jie
![The first record of the sixth species of fish in the southern source of the Yangtze River in the Jiangyuan scientific examination | Fish | Yangtze River](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/a742150d194a55346ce71a83fab880c7.jpg)
Li Wei, the leader of the Innovation Team for Key Fish Habitat Research in the Yangtze River Source of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that previous literature and data showed that there are a total of 6 species of fish distributed in the Tuotuo River in the Zhengyuan area of the Yangtze River, including 2 species of split belly fish and 4 species of plateau loach fish, while there are 5 species in the Nanyuan Dangqu area.
This is an image of adult loach specimens collected by Li Wei from the southern source of the Yangtze River.
Li Wei said that in the Jiangyuan scientific research, the team has collected new samples of plateau loach fish multiple times. The continuous discovery of the Siji Plateau Loach in different seasons confirms the distribution of Siji Plateau Loach in the southern source of the Yangtze River, and the number of fish species in the area has increased to 6.
![The first record of the sixth species of fish in the southern source of the Yangtze River in the Jiangyuan scientific examination | Fish | Yangtze River](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/3b87f60a4fce44c688c2652cc4eb980d.jpg)
It is understood that the high-altitude loach genus is the most diverse group of fish in the loach family, and also the genus with the highest number of endemic species in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, with ecological diversity and rapid evolution characteristics. Among them, the front body of the Sze Plateau loach is cylindrical, and the back body is flattened on the side. It has strong adaptability to altitude changes and is one of the highest distributed fish species in the world.
This is a photo taken on June 12, 2022, of the Dangqu River in the southern source of the Yangtze River. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Jie
Qi Delin, executive deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Ecology and Plateau Agriculture and Animal Husbandry of the Three Rivers Source jointly built by Qinghai University, said that the discovery of the scientific research of the river source will help to comprehensively grasp the background data of fish species diversity in the source of the Yangtze River, and is of great significance to the protection of the authenticity and integrity of indigenous fish in the Yangtze River.
![The first record of the sixth species of fish in the southern source of the Yangtze River in the Jiangyuan scientific examination | Fish | Yangtze River](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/06449c3a0cfc20ccc26237922e35b1c2.jpg)
Fish are the barometer of the ecological environment at the source of the Yangtze River. "The record of the Siji Plateau loach in the southern source of the Yangtze River indicates that the ecosystem of the Yangtze River source water is healthy and continuously improving, and there is still a possibility of increasing fish diversity." Li Wei said that the research team will further study the composition, distribution characteristics, and habitat of fish in the three sources of the Yangtze River from the perspective of ecological and hydrological adaptability.