The living habits and nutritional value of catfish (comparable to bear paws)

Huso dauricus belongs to the order Acipenidae, family Acipensidae, and genus Huso. Commonly known as: catfish, East Asian catfish, bullfish (ancient name). English name: Siberian buso sturgeon.

Endangerment level: Vulnerable.

CN (1996) EN CITES (1997) Appendix II.

The body is thick and conical, with a tapered head and tail. The head is slightly triangular, and the snout is long and pointed. Mouth is inferior, broad, and crescent-shaped. There are 2 pairs of tentacles in front of the mouth, the inner pair is farther forward. The eyes are small and close to the tip of the muzzle. The left and right gill membranes are connected to each other. There are five rows and columns of rhombus-shaped bone plates on the body, with sharp and slightly curved spines on them. The skin of other parts of the fish body is rough and scaleless. There are 10-16 dorsal bony plates, which are larger and located in the middle of the back of the body, from behind the head to in front of the caudal fin. There are 32-46 bone plates on the left and right sides, from behind the upper corner of the gill opening to the base of the caudal fin. There are 8-12 ventral bony plates each, from the base of the pectoral fin to the base of the pelvic fin. The dorsal fin is located far behind the body. The tail fin is crooked and the upper lobe is long and pointed. The body surface is black and blue, the sides are yellow, the ventral surface is gray-white, the dorsal bone plate is yellow, and the lateral bone plates are yellowish brown.

Anchovy lives as a fish in the middle and lower layers of rivers. It lives in fresh water all year round and does not migrate long distances. It likes to live in gravelly and gravelly water bottoms in places with slow currents or rapid whirlpools such as sandwich subs and river forks of large rivers. They don't like to gather in groups and often spread out their activities. When the wind is strong and the water is high, the swimming is extremely active, and rolling and leaping are common. Less active during dehydration. They overwinter in the depths of rivers and begin migrating to spawning grounds in early spring. It takes more than 16 years to reach sexual maturity and start breeding when the body length is 1.6-2 meters. The spawning period is from May to July, when the water temperature is 15-17°C. The eggs are laid in sandy river sections with smooth water flow and a water depth of 2-3 meters. The eggs stick to the gravel. The number of eggs it carries varies according to the size of the fish body, generally ranging from 400,000 to 3 million eggs. The weight of the ovaries is mostly about 17-38 kilograms, and the ovaries of large individuals weigh 75 kilograms. Mature eggs are gray-black and each is about the size of a pea. The larvae of the catfish feed on benthic invertebrates and aquatic insect larvae; after one age, they switch to fish. The catfish has a large food intake, and its fattening period coincides with the salmon moving up the river, often swooping into schools of fish to prey on salmon. Someone once dissected a 250-kilogram catfish and found that there was as much as 15 kilograms of food in its stomach. Stop feeding during the reproductive period.

Anchovy is one of the specialty fish species in Heilongjiang Province and its resources are relatively abundant. The weight of catfish is generally 50-150 kilograms. According to the statistics of 142 tails measured in 1979, each tail is 2.4 meters long on average and weighs 140 kilograms. The majority of individuals are 22-40 years old. One of them is 3.9 meters long, weighs 501 kilograms and is 54 years old. In 1980, an individual weighing 542 kilograms was also caught. Anchovy meat is delicious and has no spines, making it a top-quality aquatic product. Its eggs are salted and become "anchovy roe", which together with the sturgeon's roe can be made into the famous dish "black caviar" that is popular in the international market. The roe is expensive, resold to France for $58 per kilogram. It is said that after further processing in France, it can be sold for US$300 per kilogram. At present, Luobei and other places in Heilongjiang Province are able to process caviar for export. After processing, shark fin becomes the raw material of famous dish, which is no less than the shark fin used traditionally. The inner wall of the catfish swim bladder is very thick, and both the swim bladder and notochord can be made into isinglass. Swim bladder can also be used as medicine. Its composition contains collagen (collagen) up to 80%. When boiled with water, it will be hydrolyzed into gelatin. Its nature and flavor are sweet and salty, and it has the effect of nourishing and strengthening. It is mainly used to treat excessive leucorrhea, malignant tumors in women, and spermatorrhea due to kidney deficiency in men.

The Hezhe people in my country are good at fishing for catfish. Whenever a distinguished guest comes to visit, the Hezhe people will prepare a sumptuous and expensive catfish feast. From raw to cooked, from cold to hot, there are more than 10 large bowls, which is a wonder. In particular, the refined catfish fins, catfish noses, catfish roe, and catfish hair are comparable to bird's nests and bear paws, and are rare treasures that are difficult to appreciate.

According to data, by the end of the 19th century, the sturgeon and catfish resources in Heilongjiang were almost unexploited, and the naturally existing populations were relatively large. Since the beginning of the 20th century, once fishing has been developed, there has been a problem of overfishing, resources have been damaged, and production has dropped sharply. This species has large individuals and very late sexual maturity. In addition, the survival rate of juvenile fish is extremely low, the number of supplementary groups is small, and the recovery period is slow. The current population resources are in a vulnerable state due to excessive fishing of broodstock and juvenile fish. The catfish is not only a large fish unique to the Heilongjiang River Basin in my country, but also has extremely high economic value. It is also of great significance in academic research.

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