Eels were found everywhere in former rural areas. Although it is a type of fish, it looks very different from the fish we commonly see. Instead, it looks very similar to a snake, so it's also known by many as a scaled-down version of the snake. Because the yellow eel has fewer thorns and fresh meat, it has high nutritional value and is deeply loved by people. For a long time, it was still one of the main sources of protein for people.
Yellow eels in farmland
In summer and autumn, people often take tools to rice paddies, west rivers, ponds, ditches and other places to look for eels. Not long ago I went back to the countryside to live for a few days, at night like when I was a child, I went out to catch yellow eels, but the harvest was very small, I believe you also noticed that now the number of eels in the wild is getting smaller and smaller, and in some places it is even difficult to find traces of it in the silt.
Wild eels
Why are the common yellow eels in the countryside now disappearing? Where did they all go? Although eels have many natural predators in nature, such as human anchors, water birds, water snakes and some carnivorous fish, eels mostly inhabit the mud bottom, are relatively fierce, have a certain degree of self-protection ability, and their reproductive ability is not bad.
Anchor catches eels
To say that these predators have eaten them into such a situation is probably not believed by anyone. In fact, predators only play a counterbalance role, and in the absence of flooding of the other side, they will not have a great impact on the population of yellow eels.
The reason for the disappearance of eels is more man-made, eel is a high-protein, low-fat economic edible fish, rich in protein, calcium, phosphorus, vitamins and other nutrients, with high edible value. In addition, its flesh, blood, scalp have a certain medicinal value, according to the Materia Medica, eel has the effect of tonifying blood, anti-inflammatory disinfection, rheumatism and other effects, in many places are also regarded as blood tonic strong agent, in recent years, live exports, best-selling abroad, more frozen eel exported to the Americas and other places. Yellow eels are produced all year round, but the latter is the fattest before the small summer, and there is a saying that "the small summer yellow eel races ginseng".
Court yellow eel meal
In addition, this freshwater fish has no advantages such as fish bones and no fish scales, and eels have become the object of national capture. Digging, pinching, fishing, electricity and other catching methods emerge in an endless stream, this fish is served to the table every three days, from cold cuts to stir-fry, roast, steam, dry stir-fry, hot pot, foodies dig the eel dish to the extreme.
Yellow eel pot boy
Fishing problems are growing, and the number of wild eels has declined dramatically. At present, the price of wild eels on the market has risen to more than 70 yuan per kilogram, but even so, the market sales are mainly artificially farmed, and wild eels are still unable to meet.
Yellow eels from the wet market
In addition to overfishing, the decline in the number of wild eels is also related to water pollution, which live at the bottom of the water, mainly in muddy waters such as rice paddies, lakes, ponds, ditches and wetlands. However, with the use of pesticides and fertilizers, much of the water is contaminated. Although eels mostly live in mud, their survivability is not weak, and their water quality requirements are low, they are not resistant to drugs themselves, and some toxic pesticides will directly pose a fatal threat to them after they are dissolved in the water.
Spray pesticides
In addition, the yellow eel is a carnivorous ferocious fish, often feeding on insects and their larvae, but also swallowing frogs, tadpoles and small fish, etc., these frogfish insects are killed by pesticides, some of which will also be swallowed by the yellow eel, which will also indirectly lead to the death of the yellow eel, in addition, the reduction of food has also exacerbated the disappearance of wild eels
The anchor catches the oversized yellow eel
The eel does not lack food in the water, which gives it the opportunity to reproduce and rest, and due to the use of pesticides, pesticides and other chemicals, it not only seriously pollutes the water, but also greatly reduces insects. Summer and autumn are the peak of eel breeding and activity, but they are also high seasons for pests and diseases of rice and other crops. Frequent pesticides by farmers also directly affect the survival of eels.
Because of this, today's yellow eels have become very rare, I wonder if you can still see eels in the wild now?