The Chinese sturgeon is a fish of the Sturgeon family of the order Scleractinia. Common individual body length 0.4-1.3 meters, weight 50-300 kg; the largest individual body length 5 meters, weight up to 600 kg. It is the largest fish in the Yangtze River, so it is known as the "King of the Yangtze River Fish".

The body is fusiform, with a long pointed head and kiss, four kissing whiskers in front of the mouth, the mouth is on the ventral surface, stretching, and can be stretched into a tube, and the body is covered with five rows of large and hard bony scales, one row on the back side, and two rows on the side of the body and the ventral side.

The caudal fin is crooked, the even fin has a broad base, and the dorsal fin is opposite the anal fin. The ventral fin is located in front of the dorsal fin, the bases of the fins and the caudal fin have spiny scales, the intestine has a spiral flap, the anus and cloaca are located near the base of the ventral fin, and the opening of the oviduct is far away from the ovary.

The Chinese sturgeon is a benthic fish, the diet is very narrow, carnivorous fish, mainly to some small or slow-moving benthic animals for food, in the ocean mainly to fish for food, crustaceans, mollusks are less. Chinese sturgeon larvae mainly feed on benthic fish snake Kun genus and nymphs and scale shrimp and clams, etc., spawning period generally stop eating.

Summer and autumn, living in the shallow waters outside the mouth of the Yangtze River sturgeon back to the Yangtze River, after more than 3,000 kilometers of backwaters fighting, only to return to the Jinsha River area to spawn and reproduce. After giving birth to the young fish grow to about 15 centimeters, and then carry them to travel outside the sea. They have been born in the upper reaches of the river and grown in the sea for generations.

The Chinese sturgeon has a long life cycle, with a maximum life expectancy of 40 years. It is China's first-class key wildlife protection, but also a living fossil, known as the "water giant panda".

Distributed in China, Japan, South Korea, the Lao People's Democratic*** and North Korea. Mainly distributed in China's Yangtze River main stream below the Jinsha River to the sea estuary, other water systems such as the Gan River, the Xiang River, the Min River, the Qiantang River and the Pearl River system are occasional.

Since 1981, after the cutoff of the Gezhouba Dam on the Yangtze River, the Ministry of Agriculture has taken decisive measures. For artificial propagation and scientific testing of sturgeon for the number of fishing and fishing location, time strictly limited to protect the young sturgeon along the river and estuary, expand the scale of Chinese sturgeon artificial propagation and release, in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in Yibin, every year to the Yangtze River to put cultivation of Chinese sturgeon fry, so that the Chinese sturgeon, this rare species can survive and reproduce for a long time. In order to compensate for the Gezhouba Dam project on the adverse effects of the Chinese sturgeon, 330 Engineering Bureau set up the Yichang Chinese sturgeon research institute.

The study showed that, due to the Chinese sturgeon to take a comprehensive protection countermeasures, thus slowing down the process of decline of Chinese sturgeon resources, basically preserved anadromous spawning parents, for the natural reproduction of Chinese sturgeon, research and breeding and releasing laid the foundation for the Chinese sturgeon, the Chinese sturgeon species population has begun to rebound.

The Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fisheries Sciences made a breakthrough in the artificial propagation of the Chinese sturgeon in 1983, the 330th Engineering Bureau set up the Yichang Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute in 1984 also made a breakthrough in the Chinese sturgeon's artificial propagation and release of the Chinese sturgeon has been successfully tested.

From 1983, the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute to the Yangtze River each year to release artificially bred young sturgeon, but due to the cultivation technology and breeding scale of the limitations of each year can only be cultivated length of 8-10 centimeters, weighing 3-5 grams of young sturgeon to meet the design specifications of less than 10,000, most of the year is almost zero. Therefore, the replenishment of the Chinese sturgeon population, mainly relying on the natural reproduction of young sturgeon in Yichang spawning grounds.