Two-year-old males and three-year-old females contribute to maturation. In the Tumen River, the swimmers gather in groups at the mouth of the river in March-April every year and begin to move upstream, entering the Tumen River in large numbers in April-May; mature individuals move upstream to spawn in tributaries when the floodwaters are discharged in August and September. The spawning ground has clear water quality, gravel substrate, water depth of about 0.5 meters, flow rate of 0.7 m/s on average, and water temperature of 11-20℃. The eggs are reddish-orange in color, and the amount of eggs carried is about 3500.

When spawning, usually one male fish chases several females into the spawning ground, and the females swing their caudal fins to use the current to dig gravel in all directions, forming an oval-shaped spawning bed. The females ovulate several times, and the fertilized eggs fall into the spawning bed and are covered by the females using their caudal fins to move the gravel. The spawned parent fish guards the side. After 2-3 days, all the parents die. Generally, after 1 year of life in freshwater, the juveniles begin to separate into swimmers and land sealers.