Figure 1.Map of China and adjacent countries showing the Amur,Yellow,Yangtze and Pearl rivers and current ranges of sturgeons and
paddlefish.Muchof the Amur River forms the border between China and Russia. The Amur is traditionally divided into upper, middle
and lower reaches. Most of our data for this system concerns conditions in the middle reach, which we in turn divide into upper middle
reach and lower middle reach as shown. The Wusulijiang is also known as the Ussuri River and the Songhuajiang is also known as the
Sungari. Also see Krykhtin & Svirskii (1997) for additional details on Amur River acipenserids. The Yangtze River is also divided into
upper, middle and lower reaches. Most of our data concern sturgeons and paddlefish of the middle reach, near Gezhouba Dam. Also see
Zhuang et al. (1997) for additional details on Yangtze River Acipenseriformes.
fish,Polyodon spathula,were introduced in Hubei
Province, China, where they are being successfully
reared in ponds.
Documentation of sturgeon in China dates to at
least 1104 BC, when sturgeon were described as
‘wang-wei’, which means ‘king of fishes’. More than
ten ancient Chinese books mention sturgeons, in-
cluding descriptions of morphology, habits, distri-
bution, fishing and utilization (Anonymous 1988).
These early descriptions did not distinguish be-
tween sturgeons and paddlefish. Sturgeons were
depicted as fishes related to god, such as the stur-
geon dragon in Guangdong China, and as precious
fishes, they were sent to emperors as a tribute.
Many parts of sturgeons were considered to have
medicinal value.
We still have relatively poor knowledge of the
biology of Chinese sturgeons and paddlefish. Until
the 1970s, most research and publications con-
cerned taxonomy. Between 1972 and 1979, we stud-
ied sturgeon biology and fisheries on the Chinese
side of the Amur River (Zhang 1985),and in 1988,
established a propagation station for Huso dauricus
andAcipenserschrenckiiat Qingdeli, Heilongjiang