Five fish experts met over the weekend to work out a treatment plan for an injured Chinese sturgeon captured in a fishing net on Friday afternoon.

The sturgeon, which is listed as an endangered species, is 3.35 meters long and weighs 220 kilograms.

The first examination showed it suffered congestion of the pectoral fin, 27 wounds to its abdomen and an 85 percent loss of the mucus membrane on its body surface.

"The only thing we can do now is to help it reduce inflammation and regain physical strength," said Zhang Ping, vice director of East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute. "Then we can perform ultrasonic diagnosis, blood tests and other treatments."

"The (abdomen) wounds were probably caused when the fish tried to get out of the fishing net," Zhang said.

"It is one of the biggest sturgeons captured in recent years and is the first Chinese sturgeon we have tried to save. Fishermen captured some sturgeons in the past. But all of them were too severely wounded to be saved."

The experts believe the sturgeon is female and laid her eggs shortly before she was caught in the net.

(Source: www.shanghai.gov.cn )