Zhejiang 2006

Freshwater habitats in Zhejiang Province/China

In the early morning we were looking for breakfast. We drove into a small village called CaoZhaiZhen (曹宅镇), which is located nearby the road to JinHuaShi (金华市), and had some breakfast on the morning market among the villagers. I bravely tried some Zhejiang specialities with doubtful flavor and ingredients. I finally survived.

On the markets they sold fishes as food fishes, thus the market in CaoZhaiZhen (曹宅镇) became our 1st “fishing” spot (25-06).

One of the species sold as food fish on the market was the snake head Channa argus argus.

I never tried a snake head for lunch - next time.

Generally cat fishes are delicious. Pterocryptis anomala

The biotope EZ-CN 26-06 runs through a small village called HongCun (洪村). Many villagers seem to live from grape harvesting.

In the deeper areas we found clusters of Vallisneria. Within these clusters of Vallisneria we could catch the gobiid Odontobutis obscura lurking for prey, which probably comprises small shrimps (Caridina) and Pseudorasbora parva fry.

Odontobutis obscura are monsters feeding upon everything fitting into their upsized throat. Do you see the well rounded belly? It did a great job on my Zacco swarm.

I saw some preserved specimen in the Shanghai Fisheries University collection attained a length of at least 30 cm. Besides that you can admire two living specimen in the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium. The older they are, the more greyish is the coloration.

Rhinogobius sp. “EZ-CN 26-06”. Another undetermined species in the collection genus Rhinogobius.

The picture probably shows a female.

This is Rhodeus ocellatus from EZ-CN 27-06. The predorsal scales shine in a beautiful turquoise nuance. In the pond this bitterling was found in abundance. Each net draw brought some specimens. Some villagers’ youngsters helped us eagerly.

After fishing nearby JinHuaShi (金华市) we headed southern in the direction of SongYangXian (松阳县). The road condition was partially extremely poor.

We had lunch in a small town - I forgot the name. We ordered 6 different dishes allocated on 3 plates for unbeatable 6 RMB. This equals to 60 Euro cent. What a price for a tasty two person’s meal!

In the biotope EZ-CN 28-06 we fortunately registered only a few Gambusia. The abundant Zacco platypus seemed to prey upon them.

The water temperature was remarkably high, so high that the cooling effect was gone. The temperature was almost equal to that of bath water.

Rhinogobius sp. “HighFin EZ-CN 28-06” possesses a conspicuous dark blue spot in the first dorsal fin. The picture shows a young specimen. The coloration is not developed yet. Besides the fish suffered from ekto parasites. The fully colored elder specimen all died on my way home.

Although the distributional range does not fit al all, this seems to be Pseudobagrus medianalis. This species is commonly reported from Yunnan province.

We spent the night in the beautiful Liu minority town LiuChengSheZuZhen. A couple of old farmer shelters and the river running through called DaXi (大溪) makes the town worth rest a while. Strolling through the narrow paths in the evening we encountered some fishermen. The catch was some Zacco platypus and Opsariichthys bidens. Although they were quite small they end up as human protein source.

Leaving LiuChengSheZuZhen towards SongYangXian (松阳县) we found huge fields of cultivated Lotos flowers. The seeds of the flower are considered healthy. They taste a little bitter.

My Porsche on the gravel road to SongYangXian. The road conditions worsened again.

View down the gorge. The DaXi is meandering through its bed. You can gather from the picture the bed was widely dried out. The normal water level is much higher.

Behind the Daxi’s dam there were several rest waters. The one we chose for fishing did not have any current, it was limnic, still standing water. The steeply rising rock formations in the background and the turqoise blue water make this habitat a marvellous place to wet our nets.

Rhinogobius giurinus from the habitat EZ-CN 29-06 shows fantastic cheek coloration - an irregular pattern of vine red lines.

The pictures shows a brawny male. Males possess a more pointed snout than the females.

This species made a good tank mate for biotope setup tanks with bigger chinese species. They are intraspecific quite aggressive, but not to others.

Be careful: Fish eater! Too small tank mates will just be devoured!

The biotope at ShaoJiWan ran in a widely dried out river bed. We fished here until the dusk came down on us.

Colloquial called Three Lips or scientifically Opsariichthys bidens this fish belongs to my personal favorites among chinese native fishes. They show remarkable spawing behaviour while ploughing grooves in the gravel hiding their eggs deep in the substrat. Besides the coloration and finnage of adult males are fantastic. 

Syntope with the former Opsariichthys bidens lives Zacco platypus. Zaccos are commonly referred to as Dragon Fishes. In an early stage of their lives they start to show a nice irregular pattern of green-yellowish bars on the trunk.  

Plenty of benthic gobiids out of the waste basket gobiid genus Rhinogobius thrived on the pebbles. I am unable to determine them for the time being, so I call them Rhinogobius sp. “Striped Belly EZ-CN 30-06”. They make rather good tank mates in peaceful setup.  

This is Squalidus wolterstorffi (Regan 1908), an interesting Gobioninae species caught in this biotope. There is very little known about the ecology of Squalidus species. The same is for aquarium maintenance of these fishes. So far they did very peaceful and recommendable tank mates. This species can be kept in a small group in some 60 litre tanks. They do not swim a lot, but standing in the water waiting for flowing food.

Probably the eyecatcher on this trip: This is Acrossocheilus labiatus in juvenile coloration.

The picture shows a specimen with around 40 mm SL. At this size the some caudal and dorsal fin membranes are bright red colored. Thus the juvenile fishes are rather appealing. The redish tones disappear when matured, a longitudinal stripe is developed. The head is graphite black-blueish tinted.