Giant Chinese Fish Species Is Now Extinct After Surviving Millions of Years.

[Cattledog]

Scientists think one of the largest freshwater fish in the world is now extinct because of human activity.

The Chinese paddlefish, sometimes called the "panda of the Yangtze River," was found to have been lost to overfishing and habitat destruction, Phys.org reported Wednesday. Its extinction was announced and documented by researchers at the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences in a paper published in Science of the Total Environment.

It's "a reprehensible and an irreparable loss," study leader Qiwei Wei told National Geographic.

The Chinese paddlefish could grow to be 23 feet long and 992 pounds in weight, according to CNN. It took its name from its long snout, according to Phys.org. It was also ancient: The species had existed since 200 million years ago and survived the extinction of the dinosaurs, National Geographic pointed out.

The species declined slowly in the last century, at first because of fishing. In the 1970s, 25 tons worth were caught a year. But an even more devastating change came when the Gezhouba Dam was built on the Yangtze in 1981, dividing the fish from its spawning grounds. The scientists think the species was functionally extinct by 1993, meaning there weren't enough of them left to reproduce effectively. The last time scientists saw one alive was 2003.


https://www.ecowatch.com/extinct-species-fish-china-2644654974.html?xrs=RebelMouse_fb&ts=1578587865&fbclid=IwAR0pZr-zLZTHL4e0Rg2ib6CQyUjdGAFjLO4pzpNmmN8myuHQSi2i09UfrFc

[mr_lebowski]

1. Well, that's friggin' depressing ...

Also if you want to visit Ecowatch without their counters registering that you came to their site via Facebook ...

https://www.ecowatch.com/extinct-species-fish-china-2644654974.html

As an aside, what's also depressing to me is that articles about the destruction of the environment almost universally elicit little to no reaction ... on a site full of Progressives.

Thank you, though ... to the people who take the time to post such stuff.

[SWBTATTReg]

3. Hey, this post did get over 200+ views, and at least the news is out there for all of us on DU to...

view. This isn't a popularity contest here on DU, it's a community thing for like-minded persons. I wouldn't define what a progressive is because of no responses to this particular post (or similar post)...it's kind of unfair to lump everyone into a particular category because there is no reaction, when in fact, you really don't know 100% what the actual reaction is, e.g., in my case in MO, we support wholehearted the sales tax monies that go to supporting paddle fish, and other critters in the state of MO, and this may arose activities on the part of others to actually do something too.

[mr_lebowski]

4. Putting a lot of the proverbial words in my mouth there ...

It's more than obvious that posts about the latest stuff some political figure said/did elicit more comments, literally by orders of magnitude ... as opposed to discussion here about environmental issues/posts.

I'm not passing judgment/lumping people/defining progressives, etc, it's just an observation. But it happens to be one that personally find disappointing at times. I kinda feel like if there's not that much interest in discussion here, then where IS the interest?

[SWBTATTReg]

5. I get disappointed too, in a lot of things that we as human beings should be concerned ...

with/about, but aren't. It's a profound disappointment to me as I grew older, but I have learned to accept it as part of life, and hopefully, maybe the awareness has been awoken in others, with regard to various issues.

I sometimes wonder if we have lost our sanity in this world, with the gross distortion of incomes, etc., especially in this country. I thought (or at least I was taught this in school this) that if we all worked hard, etc., that we all would receive the fruits of our labors, but this has turned out to be a farce. If anything, predatory capitalism (what I call it) has raised its ugly head in our country and pretty well ruined it for a hell of a lot of us, especially when you see only a few of the very top percentages receive the vast share of the wealth.

[SWBTATTReg]

2. Sad. Hope that the paddle fish here in MO don't go extinct. The state's conservation agency...

is usually on top of the ballgame in MO though, the state of MO does have a pretty aggressive conservation program supported by a long running two instate sales taxes (1/8 cent and 1/10 cent sales tax (1/8 percent for Conservation Sales Tax, and 1/10 percent for Parks and Soils Tax)). One smart thing that the state of MO did.

I used to hang around w/ friends that would go paddle fishing (actually walk in the river and jam their hand into the fish's mouth to get them)...it's been a long long time since I have seen them (over 44+ years)...