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Chinese Sturgeon is a member of the Acipenseridaefamily of Acipenseriformes order, with the Latin scientific name ofAcipenser sinensis.     

As a kind of large-size fresh water fish, it is 200 to 500 centimeters in body length, and 200 to 500 kilograms in average weight, while the largest one can weigh up to 550 kilograms. Its head is acuminate, with mouth under the jaw. There are multi-blocks of osteones with barb protrusion in the center of head and a column of osteones in the ventral middle of the snout end. Its body is covered with five lines of osteones with acanthoid protuberance. In front of and behind the anal fin, as well as under and on the base of pectoral fin, there is a piece of osteone respectively.

Sturgeon is a comparatively inferior fish species. It is a transitional species of Cartilaginous fish and bony fish, and is also regarded as a kind of Ganoidei with cartilage.

Having the habit of upstream migration, it usually dwells along the coasts of China's eastern areas and migrates into rivers for propagation after sexual maturity. All kinds of aquatic animals are the food of young sturgeons, and adult sturgeons feed on aquatic insects, larval, diatom and humic substances. Its reproductive capacity is poor; generally, it takes more than 10 years for Chinese Sturgeon to be sexually mature.

Chinese Sturgeon is largely dispersed over the main streams of Yangtze River and littoral regions of Qiantang River, Minjiang River and Pearl River. It is a precious fish species native to China, but now left with a very small quantity. As a kind of palaeo-species that once lived in the same period when dinosaurs lived. Chinese Sturgeon has important academic interest in taxonomy and biology. The channel for adult fish migrating to superior spawning sites such as the Jinsha River in the upstream of Yangtze River was blocked after the construction of the hydropower project, Gezhouba Dam. For this reason, the government has invested huge labor power and financial resources to protect this precious species. At present, artificial inducement for spawning and stream discharge for incubation have gained some success.