There is such a fish, with its fierce appearance and habits, it has become one of the most terrifying fish in the Hearts of Americans, and even used it as a prototype for the horror movie "Frankenstein Fish", do you know what kind of fish it is?
It is the blackfish that is regarded as a delicious blackfish in China, which is called "snakehead fish" in the United States and has been flooded since the invasion of the United States.
The government not only spent $800 million to clean it up, but even drained the lake to death.
So, what exactly are snakeheads doing in the United States? Why do Americans hate this "delicacy" so much?
Blackfish caught by someone
What is a snakehead fish?
Judging from the ugly appearance of the fish in "Frankenstein Fish", the American impression of the snakehead fish is indeed very poor. But in fact, this fish does not look so scary.
The scientific name of the snakehead fish is called snakehead, and the mainland generally calls it blackfish. The body of this fish is relatively long, it looks like a cylinder, and the body color is mainly black.
They often lurk in shallow waters along the coast, hiding their bodies in aquatic weeds and waiting for opportunities.
It may be that it is this appearance and predatory behavior that makes people begin to think that it is a water snake, so they take the name of the snakehead fish.
Likes to sneak and wait for opportunities
It should be noted that the snakehead fish is really not easy to mess with, it is not only fierce, but also a carnivorous fish. This means that in the waters in which it lives, from small fish and shrimp to medium-sized fish, they are facing an existential crisis.
And judging from the teeth of the snakehead fish, it is very sharp, and there should not be many people who can beat it in ordinary waters.
Data show that the weight of 500 grams of snakehead fish can swallow 100 to 150 grams of crucian carp, loach, etc., and the amount of food is surprising, the maximum stomach capacity can reach 60% of the body weight, in the case of insufficient food, the snakehead fish will also kill each other.
It is worth mentioning that the life force of the snakehead fish is still very strong, and it is not satisfied with the changes in water temperature and water quality, and the gill supraminator in its gill cavity can help them continue to breathe and survive for a period of time in the environment away from the water.
Therefore, when Americans are not familiar with the snakehead fish, they feel that this fish can not only come back from the dead, but also "escape", which is simply a violent creature.
Gill-on of the snakehead
In addition, related studies have shown that the snakehead fish is extremely drought tolerant, and when it senses that the external waters are about to dry up, it will enter a hibernation state, with its tail facing down, and then bury its body in the mud, only to expose its mouth.
Many people refer to this way of hibernation as "sitting and retreating."
Of course, as an invasive species, in addition to having strong vitality, it also requires the ability to reproduce and grow.
These two points of snakehead fish have it, they grow very fast in the right water temperature, which can be seen from the size of the snakehead fish that people have caught, and all of them eat a large waist.
Secondly, the reproductive ability of snakehead fish is also very strong, and before breeding and spawning, there will be "nest building" behavior.
A smugglerfish that is "sticking"
With a variety of advantages, after entering the waters of the United States, the snakehead fish began to run amok, not only making the local fish in the United States "the people are not happy", but also frightening the people.
"Snakehead fish" are rampant in the United States
It is reported that the snakehead fish opened the invasion mode in the United States mainly because of the "help of nobles", because this fish was not native to the United States, so it was initially introduced by some merchants as an ornamental fish.
However, this guy grows too fast under captivity, and his carnivorous nature makes it difficult to live peacefully with other fish.
It can be raised as an ornamental fish
So someone released the purchased snakehead fish into the wild, so that they felt the "breath of freedom". In this way, the snakehead fish began to settle down in the waters, and with its super fertility and attack power, the biological composition in many waters was a big reshuffle.
By the time the Americans sensed the invasion of snakeheads, it was too late.
Flooded blackfish
However, because the fish is so ecologically destructive, the government decided to take matters into its own hands.
Not only are the snakehead fish directly included in the list of invasive species, but various methods are also used to eliminate the snakehead fish, such as herbicides, fish vine ketone, resettlement of the power grid, artificial fishing, and even in some waters where the snakehead is infested, even at the expense of draining the lake water, so that the blackfish "dry up and die".
A snakehead fish that can survive for a while in a dry state
Such fancy governance is very expensive, costing about $800 million.
But even after such a toss, the snakehead fish is still very rampant, and it will not be long before it can make a comeback. In this case, many have even offered to sanction snakeheads using Asian carp, but this approach could make the ecological situation worse.
According to the Atlantic Monthly, invasive species cause up to $120 billion in economic losses to the United States each year, and snakehead fish is just one of them.
Controlling invasive species is expensive
It can be seen that Americans are really helpless about snakeheads.
At this time, many Chinese foodies should have been unable to sit still, after all, this fish is not only a superior ingredient in China, the price is also very high, how can it be allowed to flood?
Chinese favorite "blackfish food"
Chinese's foodie attributes have always been very typical, and many invasive species cannot flood the mainland as long as they are "delicious enough" after entering the mainland, which should be well understood by crayfish.
Delicious crayfish
Because blackfish grow rapidly and are large on average, they are often reared as economic fish. And as we said in the previous article, the viability of this fish is very strong, which means that their mortality rate is very low in the process of feeding and transportation.
In this case, blackfish are not only loved by aquaculture farmers, but also have a huge market.
Farmers like to raise blackfish
This market is related to its taste and nutrition, the flesh of blackfish is not only fat and firm, but also has fewer spines, which is a blessing for people who like to eat fish but do not like to "spit out fish bones".
In addition, snakehead has been praised as a "dietary therapy" product as early as the Chinese medicine classics, which can not only nourish and nourish, but also promote wound healing.
In short, in the eyes of Chinese, blackfish can be sliced into fish fillets to make sauerkraut fish, or grilled fish, and it is also very good to throw fish soup in a casserole directly.
So why don't Americans eat blackfish? This great tonic delicacy is placed in front of them but they can ignore it.
Sauerkraut fish
Americans don't eat blackfish
In fact, there are also people in the United States who eat blackfish, but it is indeed relatively small, which is mainly related to the following reasons.
The first is the American way of cooking, most of which they eat is to slice the fish and then marinate it, or grill it. Compared with Chinese frying and stir-frying, this treatment is indeed too monotonous, and many people think that if there is not enough seasoning, the blackfish meat will not only have a great earthy taste, but also very "rough" and not delicious.
Secondly, the eating habits of people in various countries are different, and foreign countries generally prefer to eat marine fish, even if they are freshwater fish with fewer spines, they do not like it very much. Therefore, as a freshwater fish, there is naturally no market for blackfish.
Common types of marine fish
Finally, many people believe that there is a lot of heavy metal pollution in the waters where blackfish grow, and the blackfish living in this water quality must also be "eroded" by heavy metals, and if people eat them again, they will suffer from various diseases. Of course, this pollution situation behaves differently in different waters.
Water pollution
It is worth mentioning that there is also a hidden reason is the first impression.
Judging from the psychological shadow caused by the invasion of the United States and the people we introduced above, everyone has a very poor perception of this fish from the beginning, and the blackfish has indeed single-handedly harmed the ecology in the basin, so in any way, Americans should not be able to accept it psychologically.
In this case, I am afraid that it is impossible for them to cross the prejudice and open up their "appetite" to the blackfish. But on the other hand, in fact, blackfish are in the United States just like scavenger fish in China.
Don't look at so many Chinese foodies, but it is really difficult to bite the scavenger fish that is suspected of "eating garbage", and the meat quality of the scavenger fish is also very rough, and it is difficult to eat it by any method used.
Equally unpopular scavenger fish
Many countries around the world are currently fighting invasive organisms like the United States. Although this kind of war did not have the smoke of war, it also caused a lot of losses, both economically and ecologically. All one can do is do a good job of censorship and stick to it.