NATURAL REPRODUCTION AND HYDROLOGIC REQUIREMENTS OF PELAGOPHIL FISH IN THE THREE GORGES RESERVOIR

To reveal the relationships between spawning activities of pelagophil fish and environmental factors in the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), fish eggs and larvae were sampled at Zhongxian section, from May to July in 2016 and 2017. 60 fish species including 30 pelagophil fishes were sampled. Hemiculter bleekeri and Squalidus argentatus were the dominant species in eggs, and Hemiculter and Pseudolaubuca were abundant in larvae. In 2016, 7.041 billion eggs and 103.763 billion larvae drifted through the sampling section, and in 2017, 3.454 billion eggs and 34.427 billion larvae drifted through the sampling section. The amount of eggs and larvae of the four major Chinese carps reached 2.909 billion in 2016 and 2.117 billionin in 2017. Spawning activities of pelagophils fish varies temporally in different river reaches, which mainly occurred after early-June in the river reach from Zhongxian to Fuling but begun in mid-May in the river reach upstream of Changshou. Fish eggs and larvae from the river reach upstream of Changshou provided a large resource for recruitment to the fishery in TGR. Classification and regression trees (CART) analysis explored that spawning activities of the four major Chinese carps were favord when water discharge was rasing. But, spawning activities of Hemiculter bleekeri and Squalidus argentatus had no relationship with water discharge. In order to protect the spawning grounds and meet environmental requirements for natural reproduction of pelagophils fish, we propose ecological regulation of the cascade hydro-power projects in the Jinsha River and maintenance of large free-flowing stretches upstream of TGR.