Scientists from China and Japan recently started co-monitoring on the migratory behavior of the endangered Yangtze cowfish (Neophocaena Phoecaenoides ) at a local section of the river in east China's Jiangxi Province.
The joint observation discovered the Yangtze cowfish had migratory behaviors.
Hydrobiologists with the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS) and Dr.Akamatsu Tomonari, a Japanese acoustics expert on aquatic life, have worked together with the branch of the Jiangxi Cowfish Aid Center located at Hukou County in this study.
Whether the Yangtze cowfish migrates in rivers and lakes has for long puzzled hydrobiologists. Dr.Akamatsu Tomonari and experts with the CAS have launched three observations since 1996 in the Balijiang water area, one of the most intensely-populated habitats of the Yangtze cowfish along the Yangtze River valley.
The Chinese and Japanese scientists observed 20 cowfish swimming and frolicking earlier this month. Through glottis monitoring, deep-water tracking and satellite positioning, they confirmed the migratory behavior of the cowfish and collected data about their dwelling environment.
Revealing the migratory rules of the Yangtze cowfish is conducive to protecting the endangered species and maintaining bio-diversity, according to the scientists.
The Yangtze cowfish, a sub-species of the finless porpoise and native to China, is under the second-level State protection in the country. They are mainly distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake. The total number of the species in the Yangtze is less than 2,000, and the figure is going down at an annual rate of 7.3 percent. This is due largely to habitat degradation, over-fishing and worsening pollution.
Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture said about 63 percent of China's Yangtze cowfish live in the Poyang Lake and the Yangtze River's Jiangxi section.
(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2005)
