Global warming has led to climate change which has led to many species losing their natural habitat. More and more species are making it to the list of endangered animals and now, finally climate change seems to have claimed an entire species.?
Fisheries expert in China have declared the Chinese Paddlefish extinct. The fish was native to Yangtze river and was known to be one of the largest freshwater fish species which survived for millions of years.
Chinese Paddlefish could grow as big as 23-feet in length and weigh up to 450 kilograms.
They had a silver-coloured body and a protruding snout. According to Chinese experts, the fish was last spotted almost 16 years ago in 2003. A mission was carried out to find any proof of their existence but the basin-wide mission failed. Scientists believe that the fish disappeared completely between 2005 and 2010.
Chinese Paddlefish, also known as the Chinese swordfish, have lived since the Jurassic period. According to the scientists, it was one of the most common species in the Yangtze until the late 1970s.
However, after the 1970s, their numbers started dwindling due to habitat destruction and overfishing.?In the 1980s China listed the fish as 'nationally protected animal', and in 2009, it was declared 'critically endangered'.?Its population took a major hit when Gezhouba Dam was built in the Yangtze river in 1981.?
"There have been no successful cases of breeding the Chinese paddlefish in captivity. Hence, when it died out in the wild, the species has become completely extinct," a maritime scholar at Yangtze River Fisheries Research said.?
This seems to be the beginning of an end - of many species.?