“An endangered fish species that disappeared four decades ago from the Dianchi Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Yunnan province, has been ‘reborn’ in the Dianchi Lake basin, thanks to scientists’ efforts and the improvement of the basin’s ecological environment.

The golden-line barbel (Sinocyclocheilus Grahami), a type of rare cave fish originally lives in Dianchi Lake, has been absent from the lake since the 1980s due to factors such as water pollution, reclamation of land from lakes, and invasion of exotic species.

In 2007, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Kunming Institute of Zoology achieved a breakthrough in the fish’s artificial breeding technology, making it the third Chinese nationally protected fish species to be successfully bred artificially, following the Chinese sturgeon and the red-bellied fish.

Wang Xiaoai, a senior engineer at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, said since 2009, the institute has released over 3 million artificially bred golden-line barbel fingerlings in the Dianchi Lake basin, amid the improvement of the lake’s ecological environment and water quality.”

From China Daily.