China breeds third-gen Chinese sturgeon artificially, boosting conservation efforts.

China has successfully bred the third generation of Chinese sturgeon through artificial propagation, a milestone in conserving the endangered species, according to the China Three Gorges Corporation. At the Yangtze River Rare Fish Conservation Center in Wuhan, 112,000 third-generation fry hatched after artificial fertilization of second-generation sturgeon, achieving over 95% fertilization. The success confirms that captive-bred sturgeon can mature and reproduce reliably, enabling large-scale breeding and supporting a future "artificial-plus-natural" conservation strategy. The Chinese sturgeon, a rare living fossil native to China, was first bred artificially in the 1980s, with the second generation produced in 2009.