NANCHANGIt had been almost a decade since Wang Shengbian, an aquatic animal specialist, last saw an Ochetobius elongatus in Poyang Lake, China’s largest freshwater lake.
But he encountered one of the fish recentlyabout 23 centimeters long and weighing 47.4 gramsduring routine monitoring of the lake.
Ochetobius elongatus used to be a common fish species in the Yangtze River basin. However, due to environmental destruction, overfishing and human disturbance, its population fell rapidly and it became a critically endangered species.
“I was pleasantly surprised and contacted other experts to double-check the species,” Wang said. “The small fish was about 1 year old, which indica…
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