Shanghai reserve to protect rare sturgeons

A nature reserve will be set up to protect Chinese sturgeons, a threatened species of fish, at the Yangtze River estuary in Shanghai, authorities said on Thursday.

The reserve, to be located in Yingdong Village of Chongming County, will cover an area of about 55,900 square meters, according to the Shanghai Agriculture Committee (SAC).

The conservation zone will include laboratory buildings, fish rescue facilities, an outdoor fishpond and an artificial purification system for wetland water. Construction will begin in May, the SAC said.

The reserve is expected to help sturgeons as well as other endangered aquatic animals survive and breed. It will also contribute to scientific research.

Believed to have lived at the same time as dinosaurs, the Chinese sturgeon, or "acipenser sinensis," has existed for more than 140 million years. The fish, nicknamed "aquatic pandas," is listed as a wild creature under state top protection.