How the blackfish became the new dominant player in Xinjiang's many rivers and lakes

The former "king" of Lake Bosten - the flatfish

In Lake Bosten, and even in the entire fish-bearing waters of Xinjiang, the dogfish is not "king" because of the presence of the flatfish. Aspiorhynchus laticeps) is a unique fish in China, they are only distributed in the Tarim area of freshwater systems, belonging to the carp family under the fish, also known as the "Xinjiang big head fish".

The flatfish is an ancient fish, their ancestors can be traced back to more than 300 million years ago, and after hundreds of millions of years of evolution, the flatfish has not changed much, so the flatfish is older than the giant panda "living fossil species".

Boston Lake "fish king" of the first generation

The development of fish in Xinjiang actually began in the 1960s, and the key to the rapid development of the one hand is the enhancement of fishing tools, on the one hand, is the introduction of a large number of economic fish, and the Bosten Lake, as well as many of Xinjiang's water body. The first turnover of "kings" in Lake Bosten and many of Xinjiang's waters had a lot to do with the second aspect.

The difference is that the red perch can't technically be considered an introduced species, because as fish under the perch family, they themselves are widely distributed in Europe and Asia's northern lakes in the cold temperate zone, and there were originally wild red perch in Xinjiang's Erqis River.

"Wretched" red perch

Red perch in Lake Bosten and many other water bodies although the suppression of the flatnose fish, but it is not the "dominant" type of fish, because after all, they are also eating some small fish, aquatic insects, and crustaceans. In most of the water in Xinjiang, including Bosten Lake, there is also a fierce fish - the white-spotted dogfish (E. lucius).

And the rise of the red perch, the dogfish immediately sent to the "dominant" throne, which is not tragic, a new economic class of fish introduced to make the red perch completely "desperate", it is the pond swamp male fish.

The ultimate winner is the blackfish

First: ferocity. Blackfish are one of the fiercest freshwater fish, and they have a natural advantage over dogfish. First of all, with their large mouths full of sharp teeth, they are inherently more aggressive than dogfish

Second: the "help" of the marsh males. As we said above, the males will eat the eggs of other fish, which makes it necessary to have a certain level of egg protection whenever you are with the denser males.

Third: the disadvantages of breeding habits. As fierce as blackfish are, they are very male and female friendly during the breeding season and will take on nest building and egg guarding together.