Following the death of one of the five Chinese sturgeons given to Ocean Park as gifts by the mainland, the park management said mainland experts had agreed that the fish could be kept in the same aquarium with other species.

A Chinese sturgeon at the Ocean Park sustained injuries last Saturday after being bitten by barracudas and died on Monday.

The fish is the smallest of the five given by mainland's National Aquatic Wildlife Conservation Association to the park.

Ocean Park's Executive Director of Zoological Operations and Education Suzanne Gendron said the incident was an "accidental strike" by the barracudas and was not necessarily an act of aggression.

She stressed that they have consulted mainland experts before putting the Chinese sturgeons in the aquarium where other species were also kept.

Mainland experts have also checked the facility at the Ocean Park and they considered the arrangement acceptable, she said.

The four remaining Chinese sturgeons have been removed from the aquarium.

The Ocean Park is the first in the world to keep Chinese sturgeons in sea water with other species.

In other places like Beijing Aquarium, Chinese sturgeons are kept with other fish in fresh water.

According to Gendron, the barracudas have been in the Ocean Park since 1998 and had not attacked other species.

The barracudas will be removed from the aquarium in a few days and relocated permanently to another facility.

The park's zoological operations and education director Timothy Ng said the death of the Chinese sturgeon was an isolated incident.

When asked about reports that the Ministry of Agriculture thinks Ocean Park did not think thoroughly before placing the sturgeons in the aquarium, he maintained that the park had communicated with mainland experts in advance.

Ocean Park's deputy chief executive Matthias Li said they expected to put the Chinese sturgeons back on display early next month.

According to him, the association will give Ocean Park another Chinese sturgeon.

Meanwhile, he said they will consult experts from the mainland to see if they can mummify the dead fish and put it on display in Hong Kong.

Ocean Park's chief veterinarian Polo Martelli said there were three wounds on the dead fish. The largest one was 16cm long.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang said after visiting a secondary school yesterday that he felt sad for the incident.

He said neither Ocean Park or the SAR government should be blamed because it is the first time Hong Kong is nurturing the species.

(HK Edition 06/25/2008 page1)