The Chinese bahaba, a critically endangered fish was missing from Hong Kong for over a decade

Trace DNA reveals critically endangered Chinese bahaba in Hong Kong after decade without records Traces of genetic material collected from seawater have revealed the presence of the Chinese bahaba (Bahaba taipingensis) in western Hong Kong waters, marking the first scientific confirmation of the rare fish in the city for over ten years.Nicknamed the "Panda of the Sea" due to its low numbers, the giant sea fish had vanished from local records after years of heavy fishing.The research paper, published on the preprint server bioRxiv under the title Tracing the 'Panda of the Sea': Species-Specific qPCR Assays for eDNA Monitoring of Critically Endangered Bahaba taipingensis in the Pearl River Estuary, details how scientists from Lingnan University and South China Normal University tracked the fish using environmental DNA (eDNA) technology.The joint study was co-led by Jack Ip Chi-ho, assistant professor in the Division of Science at Lingnan University, and Junjie Wang of South China Normal University.Trace DNA reveals critically endangered Chinese bahaba in Hong Kong after decade without recordsTracking fish without catching themThe Chinese bahaba lives only along the Chinese coast and ...