A Giant fish is declared extinct

Posted on : 18 Feb 2020

• One of the largest freshwater fish has been declared extinct in a study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.
• The Chinese paddlefish (Psephurusgladius) was an iconic species, measuring up to 7 m in length, dating back from 200 million years ago, and therefore swimming the rivers when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.
• Its ancestral home was the Yangtze River.
• Chinese researchers made this conclusion based on the Red List criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
• Declaring a species extinct is an elaborate process. It involves a series of exhaustive surveys, which need to be taken at appropriate times, throughout the species’ historic range and over a time-frame that is appropriate to the species’ life cycle and form.
• Once declared extinct, a species is not eligible for protective measures and conservation funding; therefore, the declaration has significant consequences.
• In the case of the Chinese paddlefish, the researchers made the conclusion over long-term surveys. It was once common in the Yangtze, before overfishing and habitat fragmentation — including dam building — caused its population to dwindle from the 1970s onwards.
• Between 1981 and 2003, there were just around 210 sightings of the fish.
• The researchers estimate that it became functionally extinct by 1993, and extinct sometime between 2005-2010

Article Related Questions

1. “Chinese paddlefish” was recently in news; consider the following statements regarding it
   1.It has been declared extinct recently
   2.Its ancestral home was the Yangtze River.
   Which of the following statement is/are correct?

1.1 only

2.2 only

3.Both 1 and 2

4.Neither 1 nor 2

Right Ans : Both 1 and 2

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