A family of 15 Chinese sturgeons at Beijing Aquarium have been attracting many visitors since the beginning of April. A wild female Chinese sturgeon, the largest ever caught in China, was delivered to the aquarium on April 3. It is 3.2 metres in length and weighs 222kg, and was under close supervision during its 23-hour, 1,200- kilometre journey to Beijing from Jingzhou, Hubei Province.

Earlier, 14 artificially reproduced Chinese sturgeons ranging in length from one metre to 1.86 metres, had also arrived in Beijing. All the aquarium sturgeons are guarded round the clock by experts. The Chinese sturgeons are termed “living fossils” because the species has a history of 140 million years.