The Hong Kong Ocean Park said Monday it will get another five rare Chinese sturgeons from a Chinese mainland conservation center and that the total nine Chinese sturgeons in the park will soon have a dedicated facility.

Allan Zeman, chairman of the theme park, said the Ocean Park has signed an agreement with mainland conservation authorities on the donation of the Chinese sturgeons, which will arrive in Hong Kong by the end of July via land transport from Xiamen, Fujian Province.

"We are very grateful for the support and trust we have received from the National Aquatic Wildlife Conservation Association. We will have a total of nine Chinese sturgeons as thePark's aquatic conservation ambassadors," he said.

The Ocean Park received five Chinese sturgeons from the mainland in June as a gift from the National Aquatic Wildlife Conservation Association to represent the five Olympic rings. It was the first time the sturgeons has been sent outside the mainland.

But one of the sturgeons died later, suspectedly due to attacks by a barracuda, which shared the same facility with the Chinese sturgeons in the Ocean Park.

Zeman said the park planned to show the second batch of five Chinese sturgeons to the public beginning from August 8 in a dedicated facility converted from the existing aquarium for sharks.Other species will also be accommodated in the aquarium later.

Each of the five Chinese sturgeons is two meters in length, andbelongs to the first generation of freshwater Chinese sturgeons bred by the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fisheries Sciences.

The Ocean Park said it has arranged site visits for experts from the Chinese Academy of Fisheries Sciences and the Beijing Aquarium to provide technical advice.