Li Sizhong (ichthyologist)

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[1] and research papers[2] 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.[3][4] 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).

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

Career and research

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.[5]

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,[5][6][7] Ou River and Ling River, as well as in interior regions such as Xinjiang[8] and Gansu provinces. 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. [9] 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[10], and earlier surveys of marine fishes. But only until after the Cultural Revolution, Li was able to resume normal research activities.

In his book Studies on zoogeographical divisions for fresh water fishes of China[11], 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. 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 Mountains ranges. This contrasts with the prevalent view of demarcation line between Holarctic and Indomalaya regions along the Qinling Mountains, even though the latter does not extend into Eastern part of China.[11] 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.[12]

Two of his books are published posthumously.[4][5] In Fishes of the Yellow River and Beyond,[5] 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.[6] Comparing fish species in the Yellow River in 2010–2015 and the survey results originally reported by Li in 1965[10] as part of his research on the book, a recent study by a Chinese team concludes 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.[13][14] 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.[4] 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.[15]

Fish species discovered or named

Footnotes
  1. Open Library: Books by Li, Sizhong (1921 - 2009)
  2. AllJournals.CN 文章检索
  3. Li, S.Z., Wang, H.M.: Fauna Sinica, Osteichthyes: Pleuronectiformes, Science Press, Beijing, 1995
  4. Li, S.Z., Zhang, C.G.: Fauna Sinica, Osteichthyes: Atheriniformes, Cyprinodontiformes, Beloniformes, Ophidiiformes, Gadiformes, Science Press, Beijing, 2011. ISBN 9787030200952
  5. Li, S.Z. (2015). Fishes of the Yellow River and Beyond. The Sueichan Press. p. 638. ISBN 9789578596771. OL 25879703M.
  6. Li, S.Z. (2017). Fishes of the Yellow River. China Ocean University Press. ISBN 9787567015371.
  7. Xie, Jia Yan; Tang, Wen Jia; Yang, Yu Hui (2018). "Fish assemblage changes over half a century in the Yellow River, China". Ecology and Evolution. 8 (8): 4173–4182. doi:10.1002/ece3.3890. PMC 5916296. PMID 29721289.
  8. 中国科学院动物研究所,新疆生物土壤沙漠研究所,新疆维吾尔自治区水产局 (1979), Li, Sizhong (ed.), Fishes of Xinjiang, Urumchi, China: Xinjiang People's Press, OCLC 20265480, OL 25882356MCS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. 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.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  10. Li, S.Z. (1965). "Research on the ichthyofauna in the Yellow River". Chinese Journal of Zoology (05).
  11. Li, Sizhong: Studies on zoogeographical divisions for fresh water fishes of China (in Chinese), Science Press, Beijing, 1981
  12. Freshwater Ecoregions Of the World - FEOW: Bibliography
  13. Jia Yan Xie; Wen Jia Tang; Yu Hui Yang (30 March 2018), "Fish assemblage changes over half a century in the Yellow River, China.", Ecology and Evolution, 8 (8), doi:10.1002/ECE3.3890, PMC 5916296, PMID 29721289, Wikidata Q55209138
  14. "Due to human mismanagement 50% of native fishes disappeared from the Yellow River (Huanghe, China)". transrivers.org. 2018-04-20.
  15. 中国动物志出版信息: Osteichthyes: Beryciformes-Synbranchiformes
  16. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Callionymus koreanus" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  17. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Amblyrhynchotes rufopunctatus" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  18. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Callionymus hainanensis" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  19. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Triplophysa minuta" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  20. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Callionymus recurvispinnis" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  21. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Cottus dzungaricus" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  22. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Brachymystax lenok" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  23. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Gymnocypris chilianensis" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  24. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Triplophysa wuweiensis" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  25. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2016). "Psettina filimana" in FishBase. 01 2016 version.
  26. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Lepidotrigla lepidojugulata" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  27. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Lepidotrigla longimana" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  28. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Ciliata tchangi" in FishBase. 12 2011 version.
  29. "Melanonus okamurai Li, 2011". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species.
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