Habits and geographical distribution of pufferfish (if you don’t eat pufferfish, you don’t know the

Pufferfish (Fugu spp.) belongs to the order Fuguformes, suborder Fugu, family Fuguidae, and genus Fugu. There are about 19 species, commonly known as puffer fish. Commonly known as: bubble fish, belly fish, puffer fish (Jiangsu, Zhejiang), good fish (Guangdong), chicken hug (Guangdong), turtle fish (Guangxi), street fish (Fujian), wax head (Hebei), boat fish Fish; ancient name lungfish. English name: Far east puffers.

The overall shape is oval, with a blunt front and a tapering tail. The snout is short, round and blunt; the mouth is small, terminal, and transversely cleft. There are two plate-shaped incisors in the upper and lower jaws respectively, with an obvious middle suture. The lips are well developed, with both ends of the lower lip curving upward on the outside of the upper lip. The eyes are small, the gill opening is small, and it is an arc-shaped slit in front of the pectoral fins. The body surface is densely covered with small spines. The dorsal fin is located very far back, opposite to the anal fin; there is no pelvic fin; the rear end of the caudal fin is truncated. The back of the body is grey-brown, the sides are slightly yellowish-brown, and the belly is white; the markings on the back and sides of the body vary with the species.

Pufferfish is a bottom fish in warm temperate zones and tropical seas. It inhabits the middle and lower layers of the ocean. A few species enter freshwater rivers. When encountering foreign enemies, the abdominal air sacs rapidly expand, causing the entire body to float to the surface in a spherical shape. At the same time, the skin The little thorns stand up to defend themselves. In March every year, they swim from the open sea to the brackish water areas of river mouths to lay eggs. Only Fugu obscurus (English name: Obscure puffer) travels up rivers into fresh water in groups and lays eggs in rivers from May to June; the number of eggs it carries is generally between 40,000 and 50,000. In autumn, the water temperature drops and begins to fall into the river. Like other species, it swims to the deep sea area and returns to the deep sea area to overwinter in early December. The young fish born that year live in rivers or lakes connected to rivers. They do not return to the sea until the following spring. They grow up in the sea until they are sexually mature and then return to rivers to spawn. The pufferfish entering the Yangtze River lay eggs in the middle reaches of the river or in Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake from April to June. Pufferfish have a mixed diet, feeding on fish, shrimp, crabs, and shellfish. They also eat insect larvae, cladocerans, copepods, and leaves and filamentous algae of higher plants. Feeding is generally minimal during reproductive migration.

In my country, there are more than 30 species of pufferfish living along the coast from Liaoning to Guangdong, among which the dark-colored pufferfish enters the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Pearl River and other water systems. The general body length is about 100-300 mm, and the large ones can reach more than 630 mm.

Pufferfish resources are very abundant in my country, with an estimated annual output of about 30,000 to 40,000 tons. They can be caught almost year-round along the coast. In the Yangtze River and Pearl River, flood seasons occur between spring and summer, and they are one of the main fishery targets along the coast and in the middle and lower reaches of the rivers. The muscles of pufferfish are as white as frost, the meat tastes juicy, tender and delicious. It contains very high protein and is rich in nutrients. In Asia, Japan, North Korea and China are all very fond of eating puffer fish; everyone who has tasted it praises: "If you don't eat puffer fish, you don't know the taste of fish." Eating puffer fish meat not only tastes its deliciousness, but also lowers blood pressure. It can cure soreness and weakness in waist and legs, restore energy and other functions. However, pufferfish is extremely toxic. If cooked improperly, it is often poisonous and even life-threatening after eating. As early as the Warring States Period, "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" has a saying that "the lungfish (i.e. the puffer fish) will be killed if it is eaten". There is a more detailed record in "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Pufferfish is highly poisonous. Although it tastes delicious, if it is not treated properly, it will be killed if it is eaten." Even so, people often cannot withstand the temptation of the popular pufferfish delicacy. Therefore, there is a folk saying of "eating puffer fish desperately". In fact, the poisoning problem that people are worried about is not difficult to solve. The toxins of puffer fish are mainly distributed in the ovaries and liver, followed by the kidneys, blood, eyes, gills and skin; while the testes and muscles are non-toxic. If the fish dies for a long time, the visceral toxins dissolve into body fluids and can gradually penetrate into the muscles. The amount of its toxin often varies depending on the season. Every year from February to May is the ovarian development period, which is highly toxic; after egg laying in June to July, the ovaries degenerate and the toxicity weakens. The liver is also most toxic during the spring spawning period. Therefore, whenever you eat fresh puffer fish in late spring or early summer, you should be particularly cautious. You must choose fresh fish bodies and strictly remove the internal organs to avoid poisoning.

Tetrodotoxin is a colorless needle-shaped crystal that is an acid-resistant and high-temperature-resistant animal alkali. It is one of the most toxic non-protein substances in nature. One part in 50 million can anesthetize nerves within 30 minutes, and the minimum lethal dose to the human body is 0.5 mg. However, this extremely powerful toxin can be dissolved in water and easily soluble in dilute acetic acid, and it will begin to carbonize at 240°C. In a weak alkaline solution (treated with 4% sodium hydroxide for 20 minutes), it is immediately destroyed into glucose compounds and loses its toxicity. Heating at 100°C for 4 hours, 115°C for 3 hours, 120°C for 30 minutes, or 200°C for 10 minutes will completely destroy the toxin and eliminate the toxicity.

To eat puffer fish, you must first keep the muscles fresh and the processing must be extremely strict. The method is to cut open the fish body along the spine, tear off the skin, chop off the head, dig out the internal organs, wash the fish meat repeatedly in clean water, and thoroughly remove the blood before eating.

The export price of one ton of fresh pufferfish meat is as high as more than 3,000 US dollars. In Japan, live fish costs more than 40 yuan per catty and is in short supply. In order to meet the Japanese people's demand for puffer fish, relevant Japanese agencies have negotiated with relevant parties in my country many times and hope to import puffer fish from China. In addition to being eaten fresh, it can also be pickled and seasoned into salted and dried products, which is safer to eat. The pickling method is: pickle the washed fish meat with 5-10% salt, and dry it after half a month. If a certain amount of alkaline substances, such as sodium carbonate, etc. are added during the pickling process, the puffer fish can be destroyed more effectively. toxin. Although the toxin of pufferfish is poisonous, it is a priceless treasure. It can relieve pain with a very small dose, and its effect is 160,000 times stronger than the commonly used anesthetic drug cocaine. If made into a strong analgesic, it often has a miraculous effect on cancer patients' pain relief. It also has significant effects on skin itching, prurigo, scabies, dermatitis, asthma, whooping cough, stomach cramps, tetanus spasms, enuresis, impotence and other diseases. At present, the international price of "tetrodotoxin" per gram is as high as more than 50,000 US dollars, which is 20,000 times more expensive than gold! In addition, in addition to trout toxin, the hemostatic powder extracted from its skin is also effective in treating heavy bleeding. Grind caviar and centipede into powder, mix with sesame oil and then apply it to treat scabies and scabies; use eggs or liver to roast and grind into powder, mix with sesame oil, and apply it externally to the affected area to treat sores, unnamed swellings, cervical lymph node tuberculosis, and breast cancer. cancer. If you are stung by a stinging fish, you can use its blood to smear the affected area. In the pharmaceutical industry, its testes are often used to extract protamine, arginine and pescatine; its ovaries, blood, internal organs, etc. can be used to extract tetrodotoxin; the liver can be used to extract glycerin; and the gallbladder can be used to extract taurine. ;The skin can be made into film. In short, there is almost no waste in the puffer fish's body. The key lies in how humans use it.

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