On November 27, China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC) announced that, for the first time, it has successfully bred a third-generation (F3) Chinese sturgeon entirely through artificial propagation. This conservation milestone unfolded at CTGC’s Yangtze River Rare Fish Conservation Center.
The new F3 sturgeon trace their lineage to two second-generation parent fish—a 13-year-old female and a 14-year-old male—cultivated by the corporation’s Yangtze River Biodiversity Research Center. Researchers initiated strict selection, nutritional enhancement and environmental simulation earlier in 2025 to prime the broodstock for spawning.
During the optimal breeding window on November 6 and 7, scientists employed artificial induction and fertilization, achieving a fertilization rate exceeding 95 percent. After five days of incubation, more than 112,000 third-generation fry emerged, marking a leap toward sustainable, large-scale propagation.
"This achievement shows that second-generation sturgeon can mature fully and reproduce under controlled conditions," said Jiang Wei, deputy director of the research center. With a growing F2 population ready to replace the founding stock, CTGC is charting a path toward a sustainable breeding cycle.
Looking ahead, CTGC plans to expand its efforts by integrating artificial and natural protection strategies, offering scientific and technical support to restore wild populations. Endemic to the Chinese mainland, the Chinese sturgeon is a rare migratory species often called a "living fossil." The first generation was bred from wild parents in the 1980s, followed by a second generation in 2009.
As biodiversity faces mounting global pressures, this breakthrough underscores a successful model for combining advanced aquaculture techniques with conservation aims—ensuring that one of the world’s most ancient fish species thrives for generations to come.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
