The living habits and nutritional value of needle-mouthed fish Kyushu

Hemiramphus kurumeus belongs to the order Acupuncture, suborder Flying Fish, family Hemiramphus, and genus Hemiramphus. Commonly known as: needle fish, needle fish, needle pole, needle male. English name: Kurume halfbeak.

The body is slender, cylindrical and slightly flattened laterally. The head is large, flat on the sides, broad and flat on the back, and narrow on the ventrally. The mouth is large and the cleft is flat. The upper jaw is formed into a triangular mouth cover by the intermaxillary bones; the lower jaw extends forward extremely long and is needle-shaped; the upper and lower jaws have multiple rows of sharp small teeth in the opposite parts. The nostrils are large, close to the eyes; the eyes are large. The branchial membrane is separated and not connected to the isthmus. The body scales are thin and fall off easily; the head and upper jaw are scaly. The lateral line is complete, bending sharply downward at the pectoral fin, along the ventral edge to the base of the caudal peduncle. The dorsal fin is located in the rear half of the body, approximately opposite to the anal fin; the caudal fin is bifurcated, and the lower lobe is larger than the upper lobe; each fin has no hard spines. The body is silvery white, with gray-black stripes on the back from the head to the tail fin, and neatly arranged small black spots on both sides. There is a silvery-white stripe in the middle of the body, which is wider between the dorsal fin and anal fin; the dorsal fin and caudal fin are gray-black, the other fins are yellow-white, and the upper and lower jaws and gill covers are gray-black.

Kyushu Boilers live in the upper layers of rivers and lakes. They often swim in groups on the water surface in search of food. They feed primarily on zooplankton and also eat insects. The reproductive period is from May to June. Widely distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and affiliated lakes. Although the individuals are not large, there are quite a lot of them. They are common small food fish.

The muscles of the turtle are rich in protein and fat. Fresh meat is used as medicine to nourish yin, replenish qi, and detoxify. It is mainly used to treat internal heat due to yin deficiency, night sweats, five heart upsets and heat (tuberculous lung), chronic ulcers, and difficulty in closing the mouth.

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