The Chinese sturgeon, a fish that has lived on the earth for an estimated 140 million years, is facing extinction, and scientists believe that the species hasn’t reproduced at all in one year.

Chinese Sturgeon Have Not Reproduced This Year

The Chinese Academy of Fisher Sciences reportedly conducted a survey to track the growth of the sturgeon population in the Yangtze River, which is overrun with pollution, creating an unfavorable environment for any wildlife to flourish. The Yangtze River is also home to the famous Three Gorges Dam, which has caused severe habitat loss and increased pollution during construction. According to National Geographic, the Chinese sturgeon would travel 2,000 miles from the East China Sea to the Yangtze River to reproduce, and dams and pollution have made this journey increasingly difficult.

“It is the first time that we have found no natural reproduction of the endangered sturgeons since records began 32 years ago when [the Gezhouba] dam was built,” said Wei Quiwei of the Chinese Academy of Fishery.

The Chinese Sturgeon 'Critically Endangered'

The Chinese sturgeon is one of the oldest living species, and scientists believe it has remained relatively unchanged for the past 140 million years, but man-made pollution could close the book on this long-living species. The population of the Chinese sturgeon decreased by 98% in the years from 1973 to 2010, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and their numbers continue to dwindle.

Chinese officials have attempted to revive the Chinese sturgeon population by breeding them in captivity, raising them to adulthood and then releasing them into the river to breed, but the fish mature slowly and the process has been unsuccessful.

The Chinese sturgeon has reportedly been declared “critically endangered” and could soon be classified as “extinct in the wild” – the next stage in IUN’s extinction classification.