What Are the Freshwater Cold-Water Fish Species? A Complete Guide to Common Types

China is one of the countries with the most cold-water fish species, the widest distribution, and the richest resources. Cold-water fish are short-day fish that mature in autumn and winter as natural daylight hours shorten day by day and water temperatures drop day by day. Wild freshwater cold-water fish within China are distributed across a relatively wide range of river systems, with water temperatures mostly below 8°C, so what species of freshwater cold-water fish are there?

1. Eastern bream

The eastern bream belongs to the order Cypriniformes, family Cyprinidae, subfamily Leuciscinae, genus Abramis. It is commonly known as bream, or bream flower. The eastern bream likes to inhabit slow-flowing or still waters of rivers and lakes, and is highly tolerant of both salinity and alkalinity. It is extremely well suited to the water environments of northern China and may become one of the main aquaculture species in northern China.

2. Zander

The zander was originally distributed in the rivers and lakes of the Aral Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea and Baltic Sea systems in Europe; in China it is only distributed in the Ili River system and the Irtysh River system in Xinjiang. The zander has extremely strong disease resistance, fast growth, tender flesh, few intermuscular bones and extremely high nutritional value; its protein content exceeds 20.53%, and it is known as the "king of freshwater fish".

3. Wudaohei

Its scientific name is red perch, also called river perch, commonly known as wudaohei. It is named for the 5 relatively wide bands crossing its back on the sides of its body. The red perch is a cold-temperate river and lake fish living in northern Xinjiang. It grows relatively slowly, reaches sexual maturity at 3 winters of age, and the largest individual can reach a body length of about 500 mm.

4. Dace

The genus Leuciscus is a genus of the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Osteichthyes, subclass Actinopterygii, order Cypriniformes, family Cyprinidae, subfamily Leuciscinae, with about 20 species. It is widely distributed in the rivers of Europe and Russia. It can reach 30 cm in length, has a slender body, an olive-green back and a silvery-white belly.

5. Pike

The pike is a freshwater fish widely distributed from the cold temperate zone to the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Its mouth is large and flat like a duck's bill, with a protruding lower jaw. It is the most aggressive predatory fish among freshwater fish; besides attacking other fish, it also attacks frogs, mice and wild ducks. The pike grows fast, and its flesh is tender and white with a delicious taste, making it a very good edible commercial fish. However, because the pike is carnivorous, greedy and has a large appetite, it is greatly harmful to other commercial fish.

6. Sand loach

The sand loach is a fish of the genus Botia in the family Cobitidae. Also called shazhui, it is bright yellow all over. Its body is long and laterally compressed, and its head is laterally compressed. The snout is pointed. The body is covered with fine scales, and the cheek area has scales or is bare. It is a bottom-dwelling freshwater fish with strong adaptability and tolerance to acid, alkali and cold. It often moves below 1 m of lake water surface. It forages at night. Its main distribution areas are from Heilongjiang, China and Japan in the east, to Pakistan in the west, and to Java Island in Indonesia in the south. In China it is mainly distributed south of the Yangtze River.

7. Whitefish

The whitefish is a kind of salmon of the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Osteichthyes, subclass Actinopterygii, order Salmoniformes, suborder Salmonoidei, family Salmonidae, genus Coregonus. It is a high-oxygen-demand cold-water fish that lives in cold-water rivers and lakes at high latitudes. The whitefish can be divided into three types, namely the river type, the lake type and the river-lake type.

The above is an introduction to freshwater cold-water fish species. Freshwater cold-water fish have no obvious lower growth temperature limit; as long as the water does not freeze, they can feed and grow, and they live their whole lives in clear, highly transparent, high-dissolved-oxygen flowing water environments.

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