Chinese Sturgeon Museum

Chinese Sturgeon Museum,situated on the islet in Xiaoxita in Yichang, is part of the Chinese Sturgeon Institution of China.

The Chinese Sturgeon has a history of 140 million years, and is thought to have lived at the same time as dinosaurs. So it is called a "living fossil". The Chinese sturgeon is mainly distributed in the trunk tributaries of the Yangtze River and some coastal rivers. Between the summer and autumn every year, it used to swim to the upper reaches of the Yangtze to spawn then carried its fry back to the lower reaches. The dam of the Yangtze has blocked the sturgeon's route, which will have a bad influence on the natural breeding patterns of them. In 1982, Chinese Sturgeon Museum was built by the government to to protect this kind of valuable and rare species.

The Chinese Sturgeon is the biggest of all species of sturgeon in the world and the biggest animal in the Yangtze River. It can grow up to 4 meters (13ft) in length, weighs up to more than 1000 pounds.

Chinese Sturgeon Museum is also feeding giant salamander and mullet which are listed the second level national protection animal.