As Dongting Lake is one of the two biggest lakes still linked with the Yangtze River, its fish resource study becomes important and valuable for the evaluation of lakes in the river basin. Therefore, a monthly survey of fish resource was carried out from September 2002 to June 2004. 111 species belonging to 9 orders and 21 families were recorded, including some cherish and rare species, e.g. Acipenser sinensis Gray, and Myxocyprinus asiaticus. The number of fish species varied within the year, with the highest number 69 species, the lowest 26. ...