Pallas in the Yalu River and its tributaries is a promising and emerging aquaculture population in northeast China. However, the wild population of in the river has declined recently. We studied embryonic development, the effects of starvation, and the point of no return (PNR) of Yalu River and its tributaries. Three batches of . Mature eggs were spherical, ecru, and (1.94±0.13) mm in diameter. Fertilized eggs were spherical, adhesive, and (3.07±0.12)  mm in diameter.℃ normal embryonic development to progress through , cell division, blastula, gastrula, neurula, and organ formation stages. Newly-hatched larvae were (8.07±0.27) mm in total length and the yolk sac was (0.55±0.12) mm³ in volume. The yolk sac had absorbed completely at 6 days post-hatch (dph). The total length and body weight of the control group (feeding 2 times everyday ) had increased to(12.58±1.03) mm0.010 8±0.002 2) g, respectiveand (=0.982 6) and body weight (=0.963 6) in experimental groups were both positively correlated to dph in the control group. In contrast, both total length and weight of the starved larvae began to decrease after absorption of the yolk sac at 6 dph, declining to (9.32±0.47) mm and (0.0022±0.0005) g, respectively, at 13 dph. Control larvae started to feed at 5 dph, at which time the feeding rate was 65%; 100% were feeding at 7 to 10 dph. Starved larvae suffered from PNR at 12−13 dph, and all died by 14 dph. Understanding embryonic development and knowing the effects of starvation will be important to artificially propagating and in fish ecology and fisheries biology. Our research will play a key role in artificially propagating large numbers of individuals to augment the wild population and its recruitment deficits.