Habits and distribution of dace (famous pond fish in South China)

Dace (Cirrhinus molitorella) belongs to the order Cypriniformes, family Cyprinidae, subfamily Cyrrhinus, and genus Cyrrhinus. Commonly known as: earth dace, dace, snow dace, flower dace. English name: Mud carp, Molar-pharyngoteeth beard-labeo.

The body is fusiform, with flat sides, a round abdomen, and a slightly raised back in front of the dorsal fin. The head is short, the snout is blunt and rounded, the snout droops and covers the base of the upper lip, the edge is smooth, the upper lip is well developed, with cracks on the edge, and is separated from the upper jaw. The mouth is in the lower position, showing a transverse cleft, only slightly bent at the corner of the mouth; the lower lip is separated from the mandible, with a narrow band on the edge and near the outer edge, with fleshy papillae. Keratinization of the upper and lower jaws. There are 2 pairs of barbels, the muzzle barbels are thicker, and the jaw barbels are short or degenerated. The upper part of the body is blue-gray, and the abdomen is silvery white. There are 8-9 scales on the side of the body behind and above the base of the pectoral fin. The base is black and gathers into a long rhombus-shaped patch. There is a black spot in the center of the base of the tail fin of juvenile fish.

It inhabits the middle and lower layers of rivers with relatively high water temperatures, and occasionally enters still water bodies. It has poor tolerance to low temperatures. When the water temperature is below 14°C, it dives into deep water and is not very active. When the water temperature is below 7°C, it will die.

Overwinter in deep water in river beds. It mainly feeds on algae. It often scrapes food from underwater rocks and other objects with the horny edges of its mandibles. It also eats some detritus of zooplankton and higher plants and underwater humus. Sexual maturity is 2 winter years old, and the reproductive period is longer, starting from March and extending to August and September. During floods, broodstock fish gather in groups at spawning grounds, chase each other, and make courtship calls of coo... coo... The spawning sites are mostly in the middle and upper reaches of the river.

Distributed in the Pearl River, Minjiang River, Hanjiang River, Hainan Island, Taiwan Island, Yuanjiang River and Lancang River water systems, and is found in Vietnam abroad.

The common individual size of dace is about 500 grams. In natural water bodies, it can grow to a weight of 2-2.5 kilograms and a length of 60 centimeters, and some can reach 8 kilograms. It has high yield and is an important economic fish in the production area. It is also a famous pond fish in Guangdong and Guangxi. Fresh fish meat is used as medicine, which has the effects of promoting blood circulation and qi, removing water and diuresis, and is mainly used to treat bladder tuberculosis, jaundice, edema and swelling.

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