Distribution, Endemism and Conservation Status of Fishes in the Yangtze River Basin, China

Abstract

The Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), with a length of 6300 km, is the longest river in Asia and the third-longest in the world. It originates from glaciers on the Geladandong Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and follows a sinuous west to east route before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It drains one-fifth of China's land area and its river basin is home to one-third of China's population. Owing to a long geographical history, affluent water resources, an immense variety of lotic and lentic ecosystems, and the differences of physical environments in the upper, middle and lower reaches, the Yangtze River basin (a complex riverine-lacustrine network) is especially rich in fish fauna, representing high fish species richness and endemism in the Palearctic region. Being pregnant with plentiful fish resources, the basin is a cradle of inland fisheries in China. Its fishery yield accounts for about two-thirds of freshwater fishery production of the whole country (Liu & Cao, 1992). The Yangtze River Basin is therefore a globally significant area for preserving fish biodiversity and fishery resources. However, the Yangtze River basin is also an area highly impacted by a long history of human use and environmental variation, and is further threatened by China’s rapid economic development and the demands of over 400 million people living in the basin during the past few decades. Since the 1950s, loss of fish biodiversity in the Yangtze River basin have been accelerated by a series of direct and indirect effects of human activities and environmental changes, e.g. disappear, shrinkage and fragmentation of habitats for fish spawning, feeding and migration, overfishing, water pollution and invasion of exotic species. Documenting regional fish distribution and understanding major threats to fish biodiversity are necessary for protecting and recovering endangered fish species and natural communities. Thus, it is urgently needed to review the problems and threats facing fish resources in the Yangtze River basin, and to provide crucial information about which species are at risk and what factors threaten their existence for developing successful conservation strategies to slow the loss of fish biodiversity. Since the 1930s, Chinese ichthyologists have investigated fish fauna and biodiversity in the Yangtze River basin, and a large amount of information has been published on taxonomic,