Ocean Park needed to improve its handling of water for its rare Chinese sturgeon, mainland experts said after concluding that the way the theme park had been salinating the aquarium water had possibly contributed to the death of one of the sturgeon from an infection earlier this month.
The fish, which can live in both freshwater and saltwater, arrived in Hong Kong in freshwater and have been undergoing a gradual transition to saltwater at Ocean Park.
The experts concluded that improperly induced salination could have harmed the health of the fish and made them more susceptible to infection.
The experts - from the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fisheries Science and the Beijing Aquarium - said more research was needed on keeping the species in different environments. They said they and the theme park would co-operate on further study, according to a press release issued by Ocean Park yesterday.
The experts, who held a workshop on the issue in Beijing two weeks ago, said the death of the sturgeon highlighted areas of care at Ocean Park that needed improvement, particularly techniques for water care.
The 10-year-old Chinese sturgeon that died on December 3 was the second of the rare fish lost by the theme park, after one was killed by a bite from a barracuda in June. They were among the first batch of five sturgeon that Beijing gave the city as a gift to celebrate the Olympics.
