Mo Ganji: Chinese Bahaba | Chinesischer Bahaba | Bahaba taipingensis | No. 057/250 from work group 8/99

Chinese Bahaba | Chinesischer Bahaba | Bahaba taipingensis

Mo Ganji’s single line traces the Chinese bahaba — a large estuarine fish with an elongated body and resonant vocalisations — as a distilled gesture that reduces the animal to its essential presence. The continuous line offers only a sparse suggestion of form, enough to evoke a being without locking it into the category of “fish.” By withholding detail, Ganji allows essence to appear where concept has not yet settled.

Bahaba taipingensis is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List. Endemic to coastal and estuarine waters of southeastern China, the species once gathered in large spawning aggregations and could reach impressive sizes of nearly two meters. Today, it survives only in extremely low numbers, with most former spawning sites now silent.

The primary threats include intense overfishing driven by the high value of its swim bladder, degradation of estuarine habitats, and continued illegal trade despite protections. As populations have collapsed and reproduction has become increasingly rare, the species faces significant barriers to recovery, even under conservation initiatives.

Ganji’s line opens a space in which the being may be sensed beyond the confines of naming. In its reduced contour, the bahaba becomes a reminder of how easily a life form can recede from the world — and how often humans forget that their own fate is inseparable from the natural systems they alter, diminish, or choose to defend.