Whether it is an invasive animal in the United States or Australia, whether it is swimming in the water or running on the ground, it is not enough food in the eyes of Chinese. If you want to talk about the fish that flooded in the waters of the United States before, it must be the Asian carp.
As a result, in the waters of the United States, there are terrible invasive species again, and the skin lines are almost the same as those of large pythons. Did you guess what it was? That's right, the blackfish known as the "snakehead fish."
Have blackfish flooded the United States? Why is blackfish a terrible presence in the eyes of Americans? How do Americans treat blackfish? How are blackfish treated in China?
Blackfish are rampant in the United States
Next, let's understand why the Americans did not release the blackfish after catching it, but killed it immediately. Perhaps the reason why the United States regards blackfish as an "invader" is only because the American people lack the delicacy of sauerkraut fish.
Stir up blackfish in U.S. waters
In continental waters, very few freshwater fish will exceed 10 pounds, unless it is some northeast region with winter fishing as a local feature, or some water with poor water quality, such a large fish will be seen in the wild.
Normal blackfish, body length may reach 20-25 cm
Therefore, without exception, the blackfish that are mainly edible on the mainland are generally 2-3 kg in the farm, and the body length may reach 20-25 cm. Even in the wild, it is only 4-10 pounds, and the body length should be more than 30 centimeters. Fish over four pounds have survived in the wild for about 3 winters.
But in 2002, a few fishing enthusiasts in the United States caught a blackfish with a body length of 51 centimeters, but for some reason, it seems to have been hungry for a long time, resulting in a somewhat skinny appearance.
Flooded blackfish
And at that time, these fishing enthusiasts did not know the species of blackfish, but because it had a head similar to that of a pit viper, and the lines of the whole body resembled a python, so they called it "snakehead fish". Seeing that there was no flesh on its face, he released it.
As a result, this release is a big problem. After identifying the fish in this photo, some experts quickly determined that the fish was not a native American fish, but the same asian carp, which was also from Asia.
The United States encourages residents to kill blackfish
An ecological storm brought by blackfish began to brew.
The harm caused by blackfish to U.S. waters
In 2005, the harm caused by blackfish to the ecological environment of American waters was discovered in Maryland, USA. Although experts have previously identified the released blackfish as an alien species, they believe that its physical condition at that time may be difficult to survive in an unfamiliar living environment.
Flood of "Asian carp"
So presumably the Asian carp, which was more troublesome at that time, the blackfish was gradually forgotten.
- Blackfish eat local fish
What Americans did not expect, however, was that blackfish would lead to a decrease in salmon populations in Maryland waters.
salmon
At the end of 2005, when the U.S. Department of Maryland's Finance Department was summarizing the year-end revenue and expenditure, it found that the number of salmon exports in this year was abnormally lower than in previous years.
In order to avoid the same situation in 2006, the Export Proceeds of Salmon is one of the most important local revenues, and the Ministry of Finance immediately contacted the Fisheries Department to find the reason.
Huge blackfish
It was found that a large number of invasive fish were active in the Sasquehanna River and its tributaries in Maryland, with the largest number of blackfish.
Because blackfish are a ferocious carnivorous fish, these blackfish will not only eat salmon eggs, but also eat smaller salmon, so during migration, a large number of salmon become the plate of blackfish, and its number is reduced.
Blackfish flooded
At this time, the local government only took some action to catch blackfish in the river, but the intensity was not great. Unexpectedly, some blackfish escaped from the local river and began to march to other states.
Later, like the Asian carp that first marched into the Great Lakes, these blackfish began to come to Florida, New York, California, Mississippi, Massachusetts and other places.
Asian carp, the great lakes of the big one
- Blackfish have a super reproductive ability
These blackfish not only eat the native fish in the waters, but also gradually occupy these waters with their amazing reproductive ability. Blackfish grow very quickly, generally reaching sexual maturity after two winter ages. The amount of eggs carried by blackfish is mainly related to its body length, and the blackfish with a body length of 30 cm generally carries about 10,000 eggs, while the body length of 50 cm blackfish can reach 35,000 eggs.
roe
Therefore, blackfish are in the waters of the United States, eating and growing at the same time, until they occupy 20% of the waters of the United States, and they are officially recognized for their terribleness.
In fact, after the release of the blackfish at the beginning, the US official should pay attention to it, after all, there is a precedent for Asian carp, and it is only right to pay more attention to exotic fish species. So they initially thought that blackfish would be in unfamiliar waters and could not survive because they did not know enough about blackfish.
Powerful blackfish with strong survival power
- The survivability of blackfish is on the rise
On the mainland, blackfish can be seen in freshwater rivers with large flows, in steep reservoirs, in unoccupied ponds, and even in some shallow swamps with lack of oxygen.
Among the many freshwater fish, the blackfish is one of the best with its survivability. After observation, it was found that in some rivers or ponds that have dried up, blackfish can survive for several days as long as their surface skin is still moist.
Fish gills
This is actually because blackfish have a special skill that many fish do not have: breathing with their mouths. We know that most fish breathe on gills, and some African fish have even evolved lungs to breathe. When out of the water, the gills have no way to provide oxygen to the fish.
However, blackfish can use the auxiliary respiratory organs of the supraminal cavity to suck in oxygen in the air on the surface of the water, so even in some waters with poor water quality, blackfish can still survive.
The internal structure of the fish
The Americans' way of dealing with blackfish
Although blackfish have not developed a disaster like the Asian carp today, it is impossible for these fish to survive in the waters. Blackfish have been invading the United States for 20 years, and some have even grown to 200 pounds, looking like a large python swimming in the water from a distance.
So in order to prevent the blackfish from finally invading the Great Lakes like the Asian carp, the US government also spent a lot of money and manpower to eliminate the blackfish.
Blackfish caught
In 2019, the U.S. Department of Fisheries issued a notice saying that anyone who finds and catches a blackfish must be killed immediately and cannot be released. Laws have also been enacted that would result in a one-year prison sentence and a fine of $2,500 for a first-degree offence if a blackfish is released into wild waters without authorization.
In addition to the hard and fast regulations, the U.S. government has also adopted a variety of methods, such as artificial fishing, poisoning a small number of lakes, and even drying up the lake water in order to eliminate the blackfish in it. Before and after, more than $800 million was spent.
Recent photo of the blackfish
Unfortunately, the effect of killing blackfish is still waning, and these blackfish are still active in American waters. Even, shortly after the initial discovery of blackfish in the United States, a horror film based on blackfish was filmed, "Frankenstein Fish". The blackfish in the film have undergone a genetic transformation and become a behemoth that can eat fish.
Presumably, when the director was shooting, he did not expect that this blackfish would really become a nightmare for Americans in a few years. When the Chinese people saw the news, they began to shake their heads again and again, if there were no heavy metals, how good it would be to make sauerkraut fish.
Delicious blackfish
Chinese: This is obviously a delicious sauerkraut fish
It should be known that the history of eating blackfish on the mainland can be traced back to 2000 years ago, and it is listed as a worm fish in the "Shennong Materia Medica". In the eyes of Chinese, blackfish is not only a delicious sauerkraut fish, but also has high nutritional value.
This fish is not only delicious, but also has the effect of nourishing and nourishing, muscle and blood replenishment. Nowadays, like many fish, blackfish are Chinese eaten until they can only rely on farming to ensure sufficient supply, and the number of blackfish surviving in the wild has been pitifully small.
Blackfish with high nutritional value
In fact, in addition to some heavily polluted rivers in the United States, there are still some waters where fish can be used for food. A large part of the reason why Americans do not eat Asian carp is that there are too many thorns, and blackfish have the least thorns among freshwater fish.
Mouth-watering sauerkraut fish
But Americans still haven't chosen to make it a delicacy, and many Chinese say americans may lack a cook who can make sauerkraut fish.