On July 21, 2022, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) released its latest Red List of species. In the list, the white sturgeon was officially declared extinct, and all 26 existing species of sturgeon worldwide are at risk of extinction. More than two years ago, Dr. Gui Qiwei, a renowned sturgeon expert and chief scientist and researcher at the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fisheries Sciences, predicted in an academic paper that the Yangtze River white sturgeon would be extinct as early as 2005-2010.

White sturgeon (scientific name: Psephurusgladius) is the spoon-nosed sturgeon family, white sturgeon fish. Body length of 2-3 meters, weight 200-300 kg, the largest body length of up to 7.5 meters. White sturgeon is a large carnivorous fish living in the Yangtze River and is endemic to China. In ancient China, the white sturgeon was called tuna. It spawns anadromously in the spring. It is mainly found in the dry tributaries of the Yangtze River from Yibin to the mouth of the Yangtze River in China, and it is also found in the lower reaches of the Qiantang River and the Yellow River. It is a rare and precious Chinese specialty animal, belonging to the national level of wildlife protection, and is known as the "water giant panda".