Scientist says he found Japan fish thought extinct

TOKYO – A science professor says a Japanese salmon species thought to have gone extinct 70 years ago lives in a lake near Mount Fuji.

Tetsuji Nakabo of Kyoto University said Wednesday there are enough of the fish to ensure it survives in Lake Saiko in central Japan. He was shown in television interviews holding one.

Government records list the freshwater salmon species as extinct. The government says it will work to verify the claim.

The fish originally lived only in a lake in northern Akita Prefecture. It died off there in 1940 after river water higher in acidity was diverted into the lake for a hydroelectric project.

Before the fish went extinct, 100,000 eggs were reportedly transported to Lake Saiko. But the fish was still thought to have disappeared.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101215/...VudGlzdHNheQ--