Sander lucioperca is a ferocious exotic fish species with few natural predators in the country's natural waters. Compared with California perch and mandarin fish, the popularity of the barracuda in China is not very high, and it is generally called "ten blacks" (some people call them "nine blacks") in Xinjiang. The origin of the pike perch is in the Black Sea, Caspian Sea and Baltic sea systems in Europe, and there was no distribution of wild pike perch in China before the 1960s.
Sander lucioperca
Pike perch not only grows fast and adaptable, but is also nutritious and delicious, and even has the title of "freshwater fish king", which is highly sought after by consumers. In fact, as early as the Soviet period, the pike perch has been popular in overseas markets, and later developed into an important commercial fish species, transplanted to many reservoirs, such as the New West Asia Reservoir, Irkutsk Reservoir, etc., creating considerable economic benefits.
There is another important reason why pike perch can become popular in foreign markets: there are basically no intermuscular spines in fish meat, and the protein content is significantly higher than that of ordinary freshwater fish. These characteristics of the shuttle perch are highly catered to the eating habits of European and American consumers, and are almost "tailor-made" for foreign foodies. With the recognition of the market, the pike perch soon became the "star aquatic product" of the European and American markets, which also laid the foundation for its later introduction to China.
Pike perch
According to records, in the early 1960s, the shuttle perch was first introduced from abroad to the Ili river system in Xinjiang. The water quality of the Ili River is very suitable for the growth of the pike perch, and the population of the wild pike perch is also expanding. Later, the range of the shuttle perch was further expanded to the Irtysh River Basin. Today, wild perchs are also distributed in the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River system, the Ussuri River and Xingkai Lake, and there are also many of them.
In order to assess the population of the pike perch in Xinjiang, the staff of the Xinjiang Fisheries Research Institute conducted a large-scale resource survey from 1982 to 1983. It was found that most of the pike bass caught were about 34 to 57 centimeters, weighing 0.9 to 2.2 kg, and there were many large-sized pike bass over 3 kg.
Giant pike bass caught by foreign anglers
According to records, the largest of the pike samples captured in the 1980s reached 12 kilograms – a size large enough to become a "water overlord", and many experts are very worried about this. Domestically, there are not a few invasive species caused by transplantation and introduction, and pike perch, as a typical ferocious carnivorous fish, has a significantly higher risk of causing an ecological crisis than ordinary freshwater fish.
In juvenile age , the pike mainly feeds on small fish and shrimp , and when hungry , it can even swallow fry equivalent to 2/3 of its own length. As the size of the pike perch increases, the threat of the pike perch will also increase significantly. A 30 cm long pike perch can swallow a Baikal jarro or lake carp of about 16 cm, which is a great threat to the indigenous fish species in Xinjiang.
Although fierce in nature, the shuttle perch has also encountered competitors in the process of population expansion. Xinjiang's rivers and lakes also live another kind of freshwater perch "smuggled" from Europe, the Perca fluviatilis, which is commonly known as "five blacks" in China.
Perca fluviatilis
In 1968, the irtysh river basin red perch was introduced to Lake Bosten, which almost destroyed the indigenous fish of Lake Bosten. In just about 10 years, the red perch has "strongly ascended" and become the absolute dominant species in Bosten Lake. At the height of the species, 78% of The Bosten Lake catch was red perch. Before that, the flat-kissed fish (the indigenous fish of Bosten Lake, commonly known as the Xinjiang bighead fish) was the only top predator in the lake, the proper "old landlord".
The red perch is "anti-guest-oriented" in Bosten Lake, forcing the flatnose fish into a desperate situation. Later, Xinjiang's fishery department invested more than 5 million yuan in "rescue funds", which cost a lot of manpower and material resources, and finally conquered the artificial breeding technology of flat snout fish in 2005. By 2020, the cumulative discharge of flat snout fish has reached 330,000, but the effect is still not obvious.
Flat-snouted fish
In the 1960s, the annual production of flatnose fish has been stable at about 300 tons; today, flatnose fish has become a nationally protected wildlife, and there is still a long way to go before the resources are restored. In short, the huge price paid by the fisheries sector to save an indigenous fish is tantamount to "paying" for the blind introduction of species in the first place.
Some friends may ask, will the introduction and promotion of the shuttle perch lead to a tragedy similar to that of the red perch?
This fear is not without merit – after all, the potential risks of the perch are more than that of the red perch.
First of all, in terms of body size, the largest length of the pike perch is 130 cm, and the maximum weight recorded is 12 kg. In contrast, the red perch is much smaller, with a maximum body length of only 60 cm and a maximum weight of 3.75 kg. On the other hand, researchers have found the carcass of the perch in the digestive tract of the perch, which also indicates that the perch is one of the target prey of the perch.
Secondly, from the perspective of the breeding cycle, the pike perch only needs 2 years to reach sexual maturity at the earliest. In the southern regions, where water temperatures are higher, the sexual maturation time of the pike perch is faster, and in the Pearl River Delta, for example, the local pike perch can mature in only one and a half years. In addition, the amount of eggs carried by pike perch is also quite amazing, a 2 to 3 kg female fish can lay 300,000 to 400,000 eggs, and the reproductive ability can be said to be very strong.
Fertilized eggs of pike perch adhered to blades of grass
In addition, in the past 20 years, the pike perch has been promoted as a cultured species throughout the country, such as Tianjin, Beijing, Shandong, Hubei, Guangdong and other regions. As early as 1992, the artificial breeding technology of pike perch was broken in China, and the aquaculture production of pike perch also increased by leaps and bounds, which undoubtedly further increased the possibility of pike perch escaping into natural waters.
On the other hand, the shuttle perch has won the favor of domestic consumers with its own "hard power". Barracuda has no intermuscular spines, and the protein content of fish is more than 20%, which is rich in nutrients and full of umami. Many consumers have reported that the edible taste of pike perch is better than that of mandarin fish - these word of mouth have further increased the popularity of pike perch, and the market price has also "risen in the water".
Pike bass juveniles
According to the market survey in 2017, the tangkou price of the shuttle perch has soared to 70 to 80 yuan / kg, and the status of high-end aquatic products has been confirmed. The price of pike perch is higher than that of California perch and sea bass, but the difficulty of breeding is not high. The pike perch does not need to be domesticated to adapt to the domestic water environment, and it can grow into a commercial specification of about 500 grams in that year, which is a typical "short and flat" breeding project.
The huge profits have made more and more people start to follow the trend of breeding pike bass, which is indeed a "welfare" for consumers. There is nothing wrong with the cultivation of pike bass in a closed environment (the ecological risk is small), but transplanting the pike perch into natural lakes, reservoirs and rivers requires a high degree of vigilance (high risk).
In short, purely from the perspective of nutrition and taste, pike perch is indeed a "good fish", but blind introduction and promotion may also make it an "ecological killer", and silver fish, pond swamp male fish and red perch are naked lessons.
What do you think of the introduction of the pike perch? Feel free to leave a message in the comments section to discuss!
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