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Li Sizhong (ichthyologist)

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This article is about a Chinese ichthyologist. For a Tang Dynasty general, see Li Sizhong.
Li, Sizhong
BornFebruary 19, 1921
Huixian, Henan Province
DiedJanuary 11, 2009 (2009-01-12) (aged 87)
Beijing
CitizenshipChina
Alma materBeijing Normal University
Scientific career
FieldsIchthyologist
InstitutionsInstitute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Author abbrev. (zoology)Li

Li Sizhong (Chinese: 李思忠; Wade–Giles: Li Sze-Chung; February 19, 1921 – January 11, 2009) was an ichthyologist with the Institute of Zoology (中国科学院动物研究所) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Throughout his research career, he made numerous discoveries of new fish species (or subspecies), and published many books and research papers describing the fauna and geographical distribution of fishes in China and beyond. He translated and helped publication of the Chinese editions of Fishes of the World (2nd edition, by Joseph S. Nelson) and Fish Migration (a popular science book by Russian zoologist Peter Schmidt). Li was the major author of two published volumes in the Fauna Sinica monograph series, systematically reviewing and describing orders of bony fishes that include flat fish, cod, silverside, pearlfish, killifish, flying fish, etc. in or near China. He had written over 40 popular science articles about fish on Chinese newspapers and magazines, and been responsible for compiling and editing fish-related entries in several standard reference books (including Encyclopedia of China and Zhonghua Dadian). His works on freshwater ichthyofauna of China as well as other aspects of ichthyology are considered to be among some of the most notable in the Chinese ichthyology literature.

Early life and Education

Li Sizhong was born in a Scholar-gentry family on February 19, 1921 in the city of Huixian. His father, Li Siming was a soldier in the National Revolutionary Army. He got his education in Bailong Xia Middle School and Liji County Normal School. During the Great Patriotic War of Resistance and Defense against Japanese Aggression, Li escaped to Chungking, where he worked at the National China Scientific Research Institute of the South West, a subdivision of the Academia Sinica. He got his education in National Southwestern Associated University, known also as Lianda. He got his passion of fish after a family trip to James Aquarium in Shanghai. It was his time in Lianda where his first research came.

Career and Research

From 1937 to 1940, he studied at Liji County Normal School in Henan Province ; due to the war, he wandered in Yu County , Nanyang and other places on the south bank of the Yellow River. After graduation, he was admitted to the Fushengzhuang business personnel training class of the Agricultural Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs  ; and then worked as a grassroots staff member of Fushengzhuang in Hancheng and other places. In 1942, he entered the Museum Department of Northwest Normal University in Lanzhou to study. After graduating in 1946, he successively worked at Kaifeng Liming Middle School and Hebei Luanxian Normal School . After the summer of 1947, he went to Shenyang at the invitation of his friend Bo Yang . At that time, the National Changbai Normal University moved from Jilin to Shenyang due to the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and taught vertebrate zoology at the school  . In the summer of 1948, Changbai Normal University moved south to Beiping , where he was admitted to the Graduate School of Beijing Normal University and served as a teaching assistant at the Normal University  . He studied under Professor Zhang Chunlin , a pioneer in ichthyology research in China . Graduated in May 1950, and initially worked in the Compilation and Translation Bureau of the Chinese Academy of Sciences ( the predecessor of the Science Press ) led by Yang Zhongjian [1] ; in October 1950, the Animal Specimen Collection Committee of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (the predecessor of the Institute of Zoology ) was established in Xijiao Park,Beijing , with Chen Zhen as the front man . He was transferred to this committee and was responsible full-time for the sorting and integration of animal specimens from the former Jingsheng Biological Survey and the Institute of Zoology of the National Peking Academy of Sciences  , and participated in animal research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences The establishment started in the early 1950s.  After the establishment of the Zoological Laboratory and the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he successively served as assistant researcher, associate researcher, and researcher. Served as vice chairman of the Chinese Fish Society ( page archive backup , stored in the Internet Archive ), consultant and deputy leader of the Fisheries Advisory Group of the Beijing Fisheries Bureau, and Beijing Fisheries Society Director, "Chinese Zoology", "Acta Zoologica Sinica", " Journal of Animal Taxonomy ", "Chinese Dictionary·Biological Dictionary·Animal Dictionary" Editorial board etc. In October 1992, he was awarded a special government allowance and certificate by the State Council due to his "outstanding contribution to the development of China's science and technology undertakings" .

He has authored at least 60 academic papers (and about 40 popular science essays)  , covering a wide range of fields such as Chinese fish classification and flora , fish geographical distribution , and artificial transplantation of fish species  . He has made important contributions to the development of modern ichthyology in China  , the approval of Chinese nouns for fish  ( page archive backup , stored in the Internet Archive ) and the popularization of knowledge . In 1951, he was invited by Yang Fuqing, then director of the Fisheries Bureau of Hebei Province, to participate in the survey of fish and fisheries along the coast of Hebei. Later, he and industry consultant Zhang Chunlin initiated and participated in China's earliest marine fish census in 1952  . For the "Survey Report on Fishes in the Yellow and Bohai Sea" (published in 1955  ), "Fish Chronicles of the South China Sea" (1962 [  ), "Collection of Fishes in the South China Sea Islands" (1979  ) and "Systematic Search of Chinese Fishes" (1987  ), etc. One of the main authors of landmark works on basic modern aquatic science and fish classification research in China. He once edited "Xinjiang Fish Chronicles" (1979). "Fauna of China: Teleosts Platyformes" written by him is the earliest published volume of the fish series of Fauna of China . Since 2007, he has been responsible for the preparation of the fish part of " Chinese Dadian ".

After the anti-rightist movement in 1957 , he suffered injustice for a long time  . Several of the most important works in his life (including the discovery of several new species of fish  and the representative monograph on the zoogeography of freshwater fishes in China " Distribution Zoning of Freshwater Fishes in China》 ) was accomplished in adversity. When the writer Bo Yang left Shenyang in November 1948 and passed through Peking , he temporarily stayed at Li Sizhong's residence in the graduate dormitory of the Normal University  ; when he returned to the mainland in October 1988, he met Li Sizhong in Beijing. Tai Hou wrote an article in the Human World Supplement of China Times , describing the reunion of two fellow countrymen and friends after nearly forty years apart  .

Right after finishing graduate studies in ichthyology in 1950, Li initially worked on Chinese nomenclature of vertebrates, specializing in fishes, within the publication office of the newly-formed Chinese Academy of Sciences. Later in the year, he joined a team of zoologists (including Tso-hsin Cheng) engaged in consolidating and sorting out zoological specimen inherited from Fan Memorial Institute of Biology and National Academy of Peiping, two predecessors of the Academy of Sciences, in preparation of the later formation of the Institute of Zoology. Within five years, a standard reference on Chinese nomenclature of vertebrates was published, with a select group of Chinese zoologists as co-authors and contributors. Among them, Li and his mentor Tchang Chun-Lin, along with Chu Yuan-Ting, were responsible for standardization of fish nomenclature in the Chinese language.

Starting from the early 1950s, Li helped to initiate and participated in China's systematic surveys of marine fishes in Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea and South China Sea, along China's coast. His scientific career, however, was interrupted in 1957 when he was labelled a "rightist" during the Anti-Rightist Movement. From then until the mid-1970s, while his research and publication capacity had been severely impacted by whims of political campaigns and turmoils, he managed to conduct surveys of freshwater fishes in the Yellow River, Ou River and Ling River, as well as in endorheic regionssuch as Xinjiang and Gansu provinces in Western China. While blacklisted as a "rightist" and assigned to work on aquaculture-related research in the early 1960s, he discovered a salmonid fish serendipitously in the vicinity of Qinling Mountains (considered to be a glacial refugium roughly in central part of China), which is later named Brachymystax tsinlingensis Li, 1966. For a relatively tranquil period of about a year before the Cultural Revolution, he was allowed to publish research results related to the salmonid fish, fishes in the Yellow River, and earlier surveys of marine fishes. But only until after rehabilitation in 1978, Li was able to resume normal research activities.

In his book Studies on zoogeographical divisions for fresh water fishes of China, Li divided the fauna of freshwater fishes in China into five major regions based on characteristics of fish species distributions, geographic environments and geological histories of these regions. The five freshwater regions in China are: (1) Northern region containing upper reaches of rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean, as well as Amur River and its tributaries; (2) Western China region; (3) Mongolian Plateau; (4) Eastern China region; and (5) Southern China region. According to his method, the demarcation line between Holarctic and Indomalayan realms in China, as far as freshwater fishes are concerned, lies largely along the Himalayas and Nanling Mountainsranges, where the Southern China region is basically on the south side of the Nanling Mountains, a drainage divide between the Yangtze River and the Pearl River. This idea is close to those of Wallace and Mori, and contrasts with the prevalent view of demarcation line for terrestrial animals between Holarctic and Indomalaya regions along the Qinling Mountains (known as Qinling–Huaihe Line, though the Qinling Mountains does not extend into Eastern part of China). Freshwater Ecoregions of the World (FEOW), a collaborative global biodiversity project partly sponsored by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), cites this book as a source of references in delineation of freshwater ecoregions of China.

Two of his books are published posthumously. In Fishes of the Yellow River and Beyond, he described over 170 native fish species and the characteristics of fish distribution in the Yellow River and its tributaries; a collection of his papers and popular science articles, as well as a personal memoir, are also included in the posthumous book published in Taiwan; this book was re-published in the mainland in 2017. Comparing fish species in the Yellow River in 2010–2015 and the survey results originally reported by Li in 1965 as part of his research on the book, two recent Chinese studies conclude that only about half of the native fishes in the Yellow River could still be found, due to anthropogenic environmental alterations and increased presence of introduced species over the past half-century. Li was also the primary contributor to a volume of the Fauna Sinica series covering the orders of Atheriniformes, Cyprinodontiformes, Beloniformes, Ophidiiformes and Gadiformes, which was published posthumously in 2011. Another volume of the Fauna Sinica series which he worked on during his last years, covering fish species in China within the orders of Beryciformes, Zeiformes, Lampriformes, Gasterosteiformes, Mugiliformes and Synbranchiformes (such as soldierfish, dory, opah, ribbonfish, stickleback, mullet, swamp eel, etc.), is yet to be published.

His "Distribution Zoning of Freshwater Fishes in China" (1981)  is the most detailed monograph to date analyzing the composition and distribution characteristics of freshwater fish species in China . The natural distribution of fish is divided into 5 areas ( Northern Area of ​​the Arctic Ocean and Heilongjiang River System , West China Area, Ningmeng District , East China Area and South China Area) and 21 sub-areas; each area is explained based on changes in the natural environment and geological history. He has made many innovative contributions on the characteristics, similarities and differences of fish, and won the third prize of the Scientific and Technological Progress Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1986. In this book and related papers, he believed that the north-south division of China's freshwater fish population zoogeography should be roughly divided into the Nanling Mountains ( Nanling Mountains , Wuyi Mountains , Xianxia Mountains , Tiantai Mountains ), that is, the Yangtze River system east of the Hu Huanyong Line and the southern coastal areas such as the Pearl River . The watershed of the water system ) is the boundary, and the south of it is roughly the Oriental Zone (corresponding to the South China Zone in China); this view is close to the Oriental and Palearctic boundaries proposed by Wallace and Mori . The boundary is different from Huaihe line that is usually considered to divide northern and southern fauna of animals .  The World Wildlife Fund cited the contents of this book as a reference when classifying freshwater ecological regions in the world, including China .  This book is considered to be one of the representative works of Chinese scholars on ichthyology after 1949.  Based on the habits and distribution characteristics of freshwater fish, he was the first to propose the artificial introduction of cold-water fish into Sailimu Lake ( Certon Lake ) in Xinjiang, the introduction of whitebait in the suburbs of Beijing , or the use of mountain streams to breed rainbow trout . , have been successful since their implementation in the 1980s.[2]

In 1989, he, Sun Ruyong and Yao Hongzhen  jointly put forward a proposal in the " Business Times " to comprehensively manage saline-alkali lands by combining the cultivation of agricultural and forestry products with the cultivation of marine fish, shrimp, brackish water fish or freshwater fish . Academic data and breeding practices published over the past thirty years  show that their suggestions have considerable feasibility and development potential. In recent years, aquaculture has been recommended by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China as a successful model for the transformation and utilization of saline-alkali land.

Five papers including " The Origin, Evolution and Distribution of Plaiceiform Fishes ( page archive and backup , stored in the Internet Archive )" won the third prize of the Natural Science Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991  . The monograph " Fauna of China, Osteichthyes: Plaiceiformes " is the earliest (1995) published volume in the "Fauna of China, Osteichthyes" series. In 1997, it was awarded the Second Prize in Natural Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Prizes. Based on the zoology of this volume and the comparative study of bones and morphology of plaice fishes, the author proposes the judgment that plaice fishes and their families are a monophyletic group , and believes that the plaice family is the most primitive in the evolution of plaice. One subject  . The monograph " Fauna of China, Teleosts: Ginkgos, Medifishes, Acupunctures, Codids " is written by collaborator Zhang Chunguang Edited and published in 2011.  The compilation and publication of relevant volumes of "Chinese Zoology" are considered to be of great significance in the history of the development of zoological research in China. [3]

Yellow River Fish Chronicle

More information: List of Yellow River Aboriginal Fishes , Yellow River§ Fishes and Yellow River§ Boundaries

His posthumous book "Yellow River Fishes " was published in Taiwan in November 2015. It systematically describes more than 170 species of indigenous fish in the Yellow River Basin and explores the evolution of the Yellow River fish fauna from a zoogeographic perspective. It consists of more than 50 ichthyology papers, prefaces, reviews, popular science essays, and memories by the author  ; the revised version of this book was published in mainland China by Ocean University of China Press at the end of 2017.  Li Sizhong’s systematic survey of fish species in the Yellow River started more than 60 years ago  and the survey of fishery resources in the Yellow River system led by He Zhihui in the 1980s. These studies have contributed to the study of changes in fish biodiversity in the Yellow River over more than half a century. and the profound impact of human activities on aquatic ecology , and the evaluation of the effects of related environmental and ecological protection measures provides rare historical information and reference. [4]

Based on the distribution characteristics of the Yellow River fish populations , the geological history and natural landmarks of the Yellow River Basin, he believed that the Heishan Gorge is at the junction of Gansu and Ningxia, and the boundary between the northeastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Weining Plain outlet can be used as the boundary between the upper reaches and the middle reaches of the Yellow River; Hukou Waterfall can be used as the boundary between the middle reaches and the lower reaches of the Yellow River  . The upper reaches of the Yellow River flows through the mountains of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the alpine swamp grasslands and its northeastern edge. It belongs to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau sub-region and Longxi Asia region in the geographical distribution of freshwater fish in China ;the middle reaches are" The"shaped Hetao runs through the Ningmeng Plateau, Ordos Plateau, and Loess Plateau , corresponding to the Hetao sub-region of the Ningmeng Plateau area ; the downstream flows through low-altitude valleys such as the Fenwei Basin , Shanxi-Henan Gorge, and the North China Plain , and is the river sea of ​​the East China River Plain. Sub-region. Systematic popularization of modern fish knowledge[5]

In the early 1950s, he and his mentors Mr. Zhang Chunlin and Mr. Zhu Yuanding jointly compiled and reviewed the Chinese nouns of fish in the book "Names of Vertebrate Animals" ; 1980 In the 1990s, he participated in writing and reviewing the fish (especially the Plaiceformes , Codoides , Goldeneyes and Cypriniformes ) entries in the "Encyclopedia of China "  ; in the 1990s, he worked with Xie Yuhao , Meng Qingwen and others co-chaired the compilation of the fish part of " Encyclopedia of Chinese Vertebrates " (2000). A Canadian scholar's famous book on fish taxonomy, Fishes of the World (Second Edition), was translated into Chinese through the efforts of him and his collaborators and published by Taiwan Fisheries Publishing House (1994). He has appeared in newspapers and periodicals such as China Youth Daily , Science Popular , Bulletin of Biology , and "Chinese Scientific and Technological Terminology" The magazine publishes dozens of popular science articles.

Russian ichthyologist П.Ю. Schmidt 's popular science book "The Migration of Fishes" was translated into Chinese by Li Sizhong and published in 1958 . During his scientific career of more than half a century, he has written articles to systematically introduce migratory fishes such as lamprey  ,salmon  ,sturgeon  ] , aye, and pufferfish [ Songjiang perch, Japanese eel and flowered eel, narrow-body tongue sole, etc. In his opinion, the migration of fish overcoming thousands of difficulties and obstacles in order to continue their offspring or return to their hometown is an interpretation of the meaning of life at the biological level .

Excavation and inheritance of fish records in ancient documents

Li Sizhong believes that the Chinese nation's love for fish has two meanings: first, it has developed fishing, hunting and breeding very early, and likes to eat edible fish ; second, it loves fish-related customs and cultural activities. For example, there are a large number of fish-related stories in ancient Chinese literature. Named characters and observations about fish.  He attaches great importance to studying the records of fish in ancient Chinese works to examine the natural geographical distribution of indigenous fish before the impact of human activities (such as introduction and transplantation, canal digging, etc.).  He co-wrote a paper with Fang Fang Kullander on the natural distribution of the four major fishes . It is widely cited by scholars in the fields of geography , aquaculture and aquatic ecological protection.

As an editorial board member of the "Chinese Dadian, Biological Dictionary, and Animal Dictionary" , he consulted a large number of ancient Chinese documents since written records (including " The Book of Songs ") in the past two years before his death. , "Erya", "Shuowen Jiezi", " Compendium of Materia Medica", "Minzhonghai Cuoshu", etc.), according to the modern classification system , the records of the cartilaginous fishes and teleost fishes in ancient books were systematically recorded. Integration, analysis, and investigation. The fish part of the book was completed by Mr. Zhang Shiyi a colleague of the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, after his death. [6]

Jonathan Chu Incident

Li Sizhong had an argument with another Ichthyologist, Jonathan Chu about how anthropogenic environmental alterations and how invading species could change the pheromone levels of Himalayic Waterborne animals and Qingming Animalaic Regions This debate caused Jonathan Chu to resign from Ichthyology studies in Peking University and Jonathan Chu moved to New Jersey, where what he is currently doing is known to be a Kumon teacher, in Mercer County, New Jersey.[7][8]

Cultural Revolution Struggle Session era

Li Sze-chung survived many Struggle sessions during the Cultural Revolution, such as one in the auditorium of Urumqi National Assembly Building, where over 2800 people attended. He was also ridiculed for studying fish instead of a respectable position as a Doctor or Red Guard[9]

Late Life

Li Sze-chung, lived peacefully in his last years, in a humble palace that costed over 20 million Yuan. The palace consisted of over 200 rooms, 45 bathrooms, and nothing else, really. Li sze-chung was given a honorific Worship Ceremony, on November, 2008. Li Sze-chung died in his sleep in January 11, 2009. His funeral procession had over 1500 people attending.

Fish species discovered or named

  1. ^ a b On the second-level protection list of endangered and protected species of China (2021 edition)[14]
Wikispecies has information related to Sizhong Li.

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Wayback Machine". web.archive.org. 2021-02-10. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
  2. ^ "鱼类学分会----中国动物学会". czs.ioz.cas.cn. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
  3. ^ "鱼类学分会----中国动物学会". czs.ioz.cas.cn. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
  4. ^ "中国科学院简介----中国科学院". www.cas.cn. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
  5. ^ Kühner, Hans (1984). "Between Autonomy and Planning: The Chinese Academy of Sciences in Transition". Minerva. 22 (1): 13–44. ISSN 0026-4695.
  6. ^ Kühner, Hans (1984). "Between Autonomy and Planning: The Chinese Academy of Sciences in Transition". Minerva. 22 (1): 13–44. ISSN 0026-4695.
  7. ^ "Anime Pakistan - No1 Anime Store of Pakistan". Anime Pakistan. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  8. ^ "曹文宣院士再次呼吁长江休渔十年—新闻—科学网". news.sciencenet.cn. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  9. ^ "25 Best things to do in Eswatini (Swaziland) in 2024". ourplanetinmylens.com. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  10. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2011). "Callionymus koreanus" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  11. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2011). "Amblyrhynchotes rufopunctatus" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  12. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2011). "Callionymus hainanensis" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  13. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2011). "Triplophysa minuta" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  14. ^ 国家林业和草原局 农业农村部公告（2021年第3号）（国家重点保护野生动物名录）
  15. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2011). "Callionymus recurvispinnis" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  16. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2011). "Cottus dzungaricus" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  17. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2011). "Brachymystax lenok" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  18. ^ Xing, Y.-C.; Lv, B.-B.; Ye, E.-Q.; Fan, E.-Y.; Li, S.-Y.; Wang, L.-X.; Zhang, C.G.; Zhao, Y.-H. (2015). "Revalidation and redescription of Brachymystax tsinlingensis Li, 1966 (Salmoniformes: Salmonidae) from China" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3962 (1): 191–205. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3962.1.12. PMID 26249386.
  19. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2011). "Gymnocypris chilianensis" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  20. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2011). "Triplophysa wuweiensis" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  21. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2016). "Psettina filimana" in FishBase. 01 2016 version.
  22. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2011). "Lepidotrigla lepidojugulata" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  23. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2011). "Lepidotrigla longimana" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  24. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2011). "Ciliata tchangi" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference FaunaSinica2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ "Melanonus okamurai Li, 2011". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species.
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference Fishes_YR2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ Cite error: The named reference Fishes_YR2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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