Dr. ZHANG Jinyong worked at the Experimental Station affiliated to Institute of General and Experimental Biology (IGEB) , Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences.

Under the support of National Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Dr. Zhang Jinyong from Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IHB) paid a six-day visit to the Fish Diseases Clinic Unit of Veterinary University in Vienna, Austria in May to cooperate with his Austrian partner on the life cycles of cyprinid fish-infecting myxozoans. During his stay, Dr. Zhang met with Prof. El-Matbouli, head of Fish Diseases Clinic Unit, and discussed the possibility of further cooperation on the development of the practical control strategies for myxosporidiosis of cultured freshwater fish and on the geographical differences of some common fish myxosporeans in China and Europe as well.    

Under the support of CAS-HAS bilateral exchange project, Dr. Zhang had an eleven-day trip to Hungary in early June. He met his Hungarian partner Prof. Csaba, head of Fish Pathogen and Parasitology, Institute of Veterinary Medicine (IVM) under Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) and Prof. Molnar, the emeritus Professor of HAS. As part of their cooperation, Dr. Zhang and the Hungarian scientists conducted investigation on the myxosporeans diversity of aquatic animals from Balaton lake and Danube river. They found and identified fourteen myxosporean species from European cyprinid fish, including common bream, bleak, common carp, silver carp, European catfish and one type of actinospores with long caudal processes from Tubifex tubifex.    

During his trip in Hungary, Dr. Zhang was invited to attend the 50^th Anniversary Congress of Hungarian Association of Parasitology and gave an oral presentation entitled with “Fish myxosporeans and myxosporidiosis in China”. At the congress, he met with Prof. Gibbor, director of IVM, and both sides discussed the possibility to co-apply for a Sino-Euro bilateral cooperation project which aimed to prevent diseases of common cultured cyprinid fish.

Dr. ZHANG Jinyong set out to capture the Baikal whitefish in the Baikal Lake at dusk.

After having finished his trip in Hungary, Dr. Zhang visited Russia where he met with Prof. Voronin from Fishery Institute of All Russian and Dr. Batueva, from the Institute of General and Experimental Biology (IGEB), Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences. They investigated the diversity of fish myxosporeans and annelid actinosporens from Finish bay and Baikal Lake. Dr. Zhang communicated with Prof. Darima, the director of IGEB, and hoped to enhance the bilateral cooperation on the ecological effect of introduced fish on the native fish population by applying the parasite fauna as a biomarker between IHB and IGEB.