China Fish Culture Museum

China Fish Culture Museum

The abbreviation "Hu" for Shanghai originally referred to a fishing tool.

From specimen room to museum

In 1952, the renowned ichthyologist Zhu Yuan Ding established the Fish Specimen Room at Shanghai Fisheries University. In its early days, the facility faced tight constraints in equipment, staffing, and funding. Zhu Yuan Ding led his colleagues in overcoming numerous challenges, making do with limited resources, and personally collecting fish specimens and research materials. Within just a few years, the specimen room amassed over 900 species and more than 25,000 specimens, reaching a preliminary scale and quickly becoming an important base for fishery research in China. Later, the specimen room was renamed the Fish Research Laboratory. By 2000, the Fish Research Laboratory had become one of the four major centers for fish taxonomy research in China.

In 2002, the laboratory acquired the largest domestic sperm whale specimen, measuring 18.4 meters in length. The laboratory subsequently underwent upgrades and evolved into the Whale Museum at Shanghai Fisheries University.

At the end of 2005, the China Fish Culture Museum was inaugurated at 334 Jun Gong Road, the former site of Shanghai Fisheries University. At the same time, Shanghai Fisheries University signed a cooperation agreement with Shanghai Ocean Aquarium, marking the beginning of efforts to preserve China’s fish culture through museum collections.

Today, as Shanghai Ocean University increasingly relocates to its new Lingang campus in Nanhui, the China Fish Culture Museum will also be renamed. Starting in 2008, the new campus will house China’s first ocean-themed museum, transitioning from fish culture to marine culture. The new museum will cover a construction area of 7,000 square meters and will feature 12 exhibition halls, including the Fish Culture Hall, Fisheries History Hall, Fishing Gear and Methods Hall, and others. It will serve as a specialized museum integrating teaching, research, science education, and cultural heritage.

The Overpowering Crown Jewel

The crown jewel of the China Fish Culture Museum seems almost too dazzling, overshadowing all the other fish specimens on display. As soon as you enter, a massive sperm whale specimen towers in the center of the museum, alongside its gleaming white skeleton. It is said that this exhibition hall was specially designed to house this sperm whale specimen—"treatment" that can hardly be described as anything but exceptional.

This sperm whale specimen, along with its skeleton, measures 18.4 meters in length, making it the largest sperm whale specimen in China. The whale earned the name "sperm whale" because it produces a gray or black secretion known as ambergris. It is the most famous among all large toothed whales and, along with its two smaller relatives—the pygmy sperm whale and the dwarf sperm whale—is classified under its own family, the Physeteridae. Therefore, strictly speaking, they are not fish but mammals.

The sperm whale’s head accounts for nearly one-third of its body length, and its blowhole is uniquely and interestingly positioned asymmetrically far to the left of its body’s midline—an unusual trait among mammals. Adult sperm whales typically measure between 15 to 20 meters in length, making the museum’s specimen a true "tall" member of its kind.

Sperm whales primarily feed on squid and various small sharks, which has led to legends around the world about their battles with the giant squid known as the "colossal squid." Though the colossal squid appears fierce, it is actually quite fragile, with poor blood oxygen-carrying capacity, making it naturally prone to anemia. As a result, sperm whales often come out on top in these confrontations. Occasionally, however, unfortunate sperm whales have suffocated after their blowholes were blocked during such encounters. The exact cause of death for the museum’s sperm whale remains a permanent mystery.

The Thrilling Process of Specimen Creation

This sperm whale specimen was something of an unexpected guest at the museum—who brought it here, and how was it turned into a specimen?

The story goes back to the morning of May 14, 2001, when the fishing vessel "Gui Bei Yu 12025" from Beihai, Guangxi, set out to sea as usual. While navigating the Qiongzhou Strait, the crew discovered the carcass of a massive whale and towed it to the northern shore. Initially, the whale attracted little attention until institutions in Guangdong and Fujian expressed interest in purchasing it, prompting relevant authorities to take notice. At the time, the National Agriculture Ministry's Fisheries Bureau stated that the whale was a second-class protected animal in China and could not be hunted, sold, transported, or utilized without authorization. The whale therefore became state property, and it was decided that Shanghai Fisheries University would preserve it as a specimen for scientific research and education.

Experts from Shanghai Fisheries University then flew to Beihai to identify the whale as a male sperm whale. However, due to the decomposing state of the corpse after several days, the experts, in collaboration with relevant personnel, conducted an on-site dissection. The burial of internal organs alone required a significant amount of lime and alcohol. The experts then carried out basic processing of the whale’s bones and skin, labeling each part before transporting the five-ton load—comprising bones and skin—via a ten-ton refrigerated truck to Shanghai.

After arriving in Shanghai, Shanghai Fisheries University collaborated with the Xiamen Shangchao Biological Specimen Research Institute to create a taxidermy specimen. After a year of work, they successfully produced two complete specimens: a sperm whale skin specimen and a sperm whale skeleton.

The Not-to-Be-Underestimated Supporting Cast

Compared to these two massive crown jewels, the other exhibits may seem like mere supporting roles, but even displayed individually, they are treasures. These include a leopard shark donated by Shanghai Ocean Aquarium, as well as groupers, Chinese sturgeon, Yangtze alligators, hawksbill turtles, sperm whale teeth, baleen from Bryde’s whales, and a variety of seashells.

Among the museum’s collection, the Chinese sturgeon specimen stands out—it measures 3.3 meters in length and weighs 319 kilograms, making it the largest existing Chinese sturgeon specimen in China. Native to the main channel of China’s Yangtze River, the Chinese sturgeon is one of the most primitive extant fish species, with a history of 140 million years on Earth. Known as a "living fossil," it is also the southernmost-distributed species among the 27 types of sturgeon in the world. More moving is its "loyalty"—it always migrates back to its birthplace in the Yangtze River to spawn, hence earning the name "Chinese." During its migration, it demonstrates astonishing endurance, strength, navigational ability, and directional sense. In a way, these traits reflect the character of the Chinese nation.

Additionally, the most colorful displays in the exhibition hall are the many types of seashells, including conch, volute, spider conch, and the treasured Four Great Named Shells: the emperor helmet shell, the triton shell, the nautilus, and the wentletrap. Their unique and lovely shapes make them truly captivating.