One of the wild Chinese sturgeon in the Beijing Aquarium.

 

Five wild Chinese sturgeon will have to go on a diet in order to qualify to be sent home from the Beijing Aquarium to the Yangtze River before April 20.

 

Beijing Evening News reported the five wild fish will undergo a series of health checks and training starting on Thursday until April 19 to assure their safe transport. Only two healthy sturgeon will be selected among the first batch to go home.

 

Some of the sturgeon, weighing one metric ton, are overweight. It is difficult to accommodate their weight and 3.6-meter-long bodies in the transport container. These overweight wild Chinese sturgeon will have to get fit to reduce possible transport risks during the 20-hour journey.

 

The Chinese sturgeon, known as the "panda in water," is the oldest fish species in the Yangtze, estimated to be 140 million years old.

 

(CRI March 23, 2007)