The Chinese paddlefish, one of the largest fish in the world, is officially extinct

The Chinese swordfish, Psephurus gladius, is probably the first animal of the new decade to be officially declared extinct.

He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

The Chinese swordfish is the first animal of 2020, and of the new decade, to be officially declared extinct, according to Chinese researchers, according to whom we can now speak of definitive extinction given that it has not been sighted since 2003.

Il chinese swordfish o Chinese paddlefish, also called elephant fish because of its "trunk" snout, one of the largest freshwater specimens in the world of about 7 meters in length, once populated the waters of the Yangtze River. As stated, it has not been seen for 17 years and according to the Chinese theextinction definitive would probably have occurred by 2005, even if it would have become functionally extinct, that is, it was no longer able to reproduce as early as 1993. For its part, the IUCN, "The International Union for Conservation of Nature", reports that some remained in the last update dating back to 2009, from 0 to 50 units. But for the Chinese by that time they were already practically extinct.

Unfortunately, the Chinese swordfish, whose Latin name is Psephurus gladius, is not the only one to have disappeared from the Yangtze River, it also happened to the dolphin or baiji in 2006 and Chinese sturgeon is at great risk. The reason? Highly stressful factors due to the construction of dams, overfishing, trafficking, overfishing, river ports e pollution, as stated by the authors of the study published in Science of the Total Environment, which confirms extinction:

"The mega river ecosystem of the Yangtze River was once home to several aquatic megafaunas, but is increasingly being affected by various anthropogenic stressors that have resulted in continued biodiversity loss."

The Chinese paddlefish, one of the largest fish in the world, is officially extinct

The river ecosystem in question, 6.300 kilometers long, with over 4.000 aquatic species in its waters, is in fact in serious difficulty. And for this reason, after the definitive disappearance of Psephurus gladius, already declared in critical danger in 1996 by the IUCN, Beijing has decided to ban commercial fishing on the Yangtze for the next 10 years. Although, according to the opinion of scholars, i Chinese paddlefish, as migratory, they would also have become extinct due to the Three Gorges dam, erected in 2003, which prevented them from swimming upstream to reproduce and lay eggs, and then reproduce.

In any case, the ban on fishing is certainly an opportune measure, although probably not sufficient, to prevent the Yangtze from becoming more and more depopulated, as Yu Zhenkang, deputy minister of agriculture and rural affairs reiterated:

"The fishing ban is a key measure to effectively curb the decline of the river ecosystem and any further decline in biodiversity."

Let's hope it brings results before it's too late for other fish!