The living habits and nutritional value of the river rat

Mystus macropterus belongs to the order Caturiformes, the family Mystus, and the genus Mystus. Commonly known as: river rat, stone plate head, stone flat head, rock flat head, stone beard, ox tail, and can Bazi. English name: Largefin longbarbel catfish.

The body is elongated, the dorsal fin is flattened in front, and the tail is flattened laterally. The head is broad and flat, the mouth is broad, sub-inferior, and curved. The upper jaw is slightly longer than the lower jaw, and both upper and lower jaws have villous tooth bands. The front and rear nostrils are separated, and the posterior nostril has nasal whiskers. 4 pairs of barbels, slightly flat and long: the end of the nose barbel reaches the eye; the maxillary barbel is the longest, and the end exceeds the end of the pectoral fin; the barbels are shorter, the outer barbels are longer than the inner barbels, and the end of the outer pair reaches or exceeds the starting point of the pectoral fin base , the inner pair is about the same length as the nose whiskers. The eyes are small, and the distance between them is wide and flat. The gill openings are broad and the gill membrane is not connected to the isthmus. The shoulder bones protrude significantly above the pectoral fins. During the growth process, the rear half of the body grows faster. The starting point of the dorsal fin is about 1/3 of the front of the body. The spines are short and smooth, and the ends are soft. The pectoral fins have thick hard spines, the rear edge has well-developed serrations, and the front edge has small serrations. The pelvic fin is far away from the anal fin. The adipose fin is particularly long and low, the trailing edge is not free, slightly oblique or truncate, and is connected to the caudal fin. The caudal fin is bifurcated and the upper lobe is slightly longer. The body is naked without scales and the lateral lines are straight. The body is gray-black, with dark back and light belly, and there may be scattered small spots on the body. The dorsal fin, anal fin, and caudal fin are gray-white, and their edges are gray-black.

It is a benthic fish that mostly inhabits river trunks and tributaries with fast currents and gravelly bottoms. It likes to gather in groups. Foraging at night, they mainly feed on benthic animals, such as snails, clams, aquatic insects and their larvae, shrimps, small fish, etc., and occasionally feed on higher plant debris and algae. They lay eggs in Liushuitan from June to July, and the eggs adhere to rocks for development.

Distributed in various water systems from the Yangtze River to the Pearl River, the middle and upper reaches of the rivers are more abundant, and they are one of the common edible fish. The average individual weight is about 0.5 kg, and the largest individual can reach 5 kg. The meat is tender and delicious, and has certain economic value.

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