On July 21 this year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) updated the Red List of Threatened Species, which mentions that the Yangtze River endemic species, the white sturgeon, has become extinct. The extinction of the white sturgeon is a reminder that biodiversity should be safeguarded, and the supply of natural resources and ecological balance should be protected. Known as the "king of Freshwater fish in China", although it appeared as early as the early Cretaceous Period hundreds of millions of years ago, it was actually named by German scientists in 1860. So, what was the name of the white sturgeon in ancient times, and what other fish should we know about in ancient times? Let's open the historical documents and see what fish were in ancient times.
Realistic fish in the Book of Verses
If you want to talk about fish in ancient times, you must talk about the Book of Verses. The Book of Poetry is an encyclopedia reflecting the society of the Zhou Dynasty, and many of the proper names of grass, trees, insects and fish are mentioned for the first time, which has become an important theme in the study of the Book of Poetry. In the Book of Poetry, twelve species of fish are introduced, leaving their ancient names for posterity. There is a poem called "Fish Li" in the Book of Poetry, which says six kinds of fish:
Fish liǔ, cháng shark. A gentleman has wine, and there is much purpose.
Fish Li Yu Yu, Bream (fáng) 鳢 (lǐ). A gentleman has wine, much and purpose.
Fish lily in the carp, yǎn carp. A gentleman has wine, and he has a purpose.
There are many things, and there are many things!
The purpose of the thing is to be the same, and the dimension is to be with it!
Things are there, and there is time!
The poem is about the guests of the noble feast, not only wine, but also six kinds of fish jumping in the fishing basket (罶), namely the mullet, the shark, the bream, the squid, the eel, and the carp. Of these six species of fish, the only names familiar today may be "shark" and "carp". However, the shark is not today's shark, it is also known as the cat, growing in the stream, mountain stream, is only five inches long small fish, yellow and white with black spots, large fins, tail round, abdominal fin can be adsorbed to objects, the mouth is wide gill, often open mouth spit sand, so also called "blowing sand fish", referred to as "sand fish", so it is also written as "shark", and sharks This behemoth is naturally different.
As for the "carp", it is indeed today's carp. Carp is a typical freshwater fish that has become an important dish delicacy during the Western Zhou Dynasty. Interestingly, because the carp has thirty-six fish scales, it was considered by the ancients to be the most yin thing, becoming a bridge between the human world and the immortal world, so in ancient times there were many legends of fish belly books, fish transmission of heavenly displays, fish offering river maps, and fish messengers. It is precisely in this way that carp has also become the messenger of human exchanges, and the words "fish element", "ruler", "fish book" and "double carp" have become other names for letters. The Eastern Han Dynasty Immortal Novel "Legend of Liexian" records the story of the immortal Qin Gao riding a carp wading in the water.
It is said that Qin Gao was a Warring States Zhao person, because he was good at drumming and playing the piano, he served as the shepherd of King Kang of Song. Practice immortality. More than two hundred years later, he jumped into the water one day and then jumped out on a red carp. The disciples enshrined him in the ancestral hall, and tens of thousands of people came to worship him every day. His legend has been passed down to the Song Dynasty. During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was Qinxi in the northeast of Jing County, and there was a Qingaotai on the side of Qinxi, which is said to be the place where he lived in seclusion. There is a kind of "Qingao fish" in Qinxi, which is said to be the slag of the medicine he refined. As a local specialty, it is harvested and pickled every year and paid tribute to the government at all levels. The great literary hero Ouyang Xiu also took this as the theme and sang peace with people's poetry and wine.
As for the "anchovy", it is also called yellow anchovy, yellow-cheeked fish, yellow jaw fish, eel, because the tail is slightly yellow and so named. The anchovy is the small fish with the strongest vitality, not only able to fly, but also sting people with stings; "Bream", which is the ancient name of bream. Bream is more abundant in the Jianghan area, and the taste is the most delicious. "Bream" is also the fish with the highest frequency of appearance in the Book of Poetry, and many people in the Zhou Dynasty also used the name of "bream", such as the Spring and Autumn Chu State Prince Bream, the word fish, the name and the word meaning are similar; There are also many people with the name "carp", such as Confucius's son Kong Carp, the character Boyu. When Kong Carp was born, the monarch Lu Zhaogong took a carp to congratulate him, and he had this name.
"Fish" and "fish" are actually not strangers to everyone. "Fish" is also called a fish, which is actually a blackfish; And the "catfish" is actually a catfish.
A poem in the Book of Poetry Zhou Song called "Dive" also mentions six kinds of fish:
Doggy and painted, diving with multiple fish.
There are fish (zhān) and wěi, and fish (tiáo) carp.
To enjoy the blessings, to introduce the blessings.
This is the sacrifice song sung by Zhou Tianzi at the Zongmiao Temple, in which the fish, tuna, carp, crucian carp, eel, and carp are the six kinds of fish that are sacrificed. "Mullet", "Hmong", "Carp" are introduced in the previous article, what are "fish", "tuna", "carp"? The "fish" is actually today's sturgeon, and the tuna is today's sturgeon. Chinese sturgeon belongs to the sturgeon genus of the sturgeon family, so the ancient name is also "sturgeon". As for the "minnow", it is today's minnow.
In addition to the nine species of fish mentioned above, the Book of Verses also mentions three kinds of fish, namely "turtle (guān)", "squid (xù)" and "zūn", all of which were caught with fishing nets at that time. A widower may be a mackerel, a mackerel is a silver carp, and a trout is a red-eyed fish. In short, the fish in the Book of Verses are still very common today.
Of course, the fish recorded in the Book of Verses are generally small fish used for food and sacrifice, and will not be all fish. In the first dictionary on the mainland, the Han Dynasty's "Commentary on The Interpretation of Texts", there are hundreds of words next to the word "fish", and at least sixty of them are the proper names of fish. However, many of these names are no longer used today, which makes it difficult to interpret them one by one.
Imaginary fish in the Classic of Mountains and Seas
The Classic of Mountains and Seas is a naturalistic work in the pre-Qin period, and compared with the realism of the Book of Poetry, its imagination is more intense, and it introduces many strange fish. Some may be a distortion of the observation of reality, while others may be just imaginary and very interesting to read.
There is a kind of Heluo fish in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, which grows up to one and ten, and sounds like a dog barking, and it can be eaten to treat poisonous sores. Some people think that its prototype may be a squid, octopus and other fish with a large head and thighs, while others think that many fish may be clustered together, causing the observer to cause visual errors. However, the shape of this siamese fish has actually appeared in the Yangshao culture faience pottery unearthed in Xi'an, Shaanxi, Ruicheng, Shanxi and other places. Therefore, these strange shapes may be just simple fantasies of early humans, and it is boring to examine the realistic prototypes one by one.
There are also many fish in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, which are a combination of fish and birds.
For example, there is a kind of turtle (xí) turtle, which looks like a magpie but has ten wings, the scales are at the tip of the feather, it makes a sound like a magpie, it can resist the fire, and eating it will not produce damp fever; There is a kind of huá fish, which looks like a fish but has bird wings, and its flight will emit light, and its sound is like a mandarin duck, and it will appear with the great drought under the world; There is a kind of carp-like Wen Ray (yáo) fish, with a pale texture and a white head and a red mouth, often swimming from the West Sea to the East Sea, flying at night, its voice is like a chicken calling, the taste is sour and sweet, it will not be insane when it appears, and when it appears, it will have a great harvest in the world; There are also rú pí (rú pí) with bird's head fish bodies, and so on.
The merging of fish and birds into one and transforming into each other is also the imagination of the ancestors. "Zhuangzi" says, "There is a fish in the north, and its name is Kun; Transformed into a bird, its name is Peng", believing that the divine bird Dapeng is the change of the divine fish and the big carp. Not only that, but there are also many fish in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, which are a combination of fish and beasts. For example, there is a kind of bass fish, which looks like a dog's head fish body, sounds like a baby crying, and will not be insane when eaten; There is also a flying fish, which looks like a pig and has red stripes, and with it you can not be afraid of lightning and lightning, and you can also prevent being attacked by weapons. The pattern of a dog's head and a dog's tail and a fish's body has also appeared in Yangshao culture clay pots.
There are also many fish in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, with human characteristics. For example, there is a kind of red squid (rú), which looks like a fish but has a human face, sounds like a mandarin duck, and eating it will not grow scabies; There is also a kind of mermaid, which looks like a fish but has four feet, sounds like a baby crying, and eating it can prevent dementia; There is also a country of the Kryptonians, whose citizens are also human-faced and footless; There is also a kind of lingyu, with a human face fish body, and hands and feet. The most bizarre thing is a half-human, half-fish fish woman, it is said that in the north, the spring water benefits, the snake turns into a fish, the deceased Emperor Of Heaven took the opportunity to support the body of the fish, dead and revived. In this way, man, snake and fish become one.
The story of the transformation of the mole into a fish woman is obviously a myth and legend. However, in the primitive thinking of the ancestors, man, god, and beast often have me in you and you in me. After the death of the gods and men, they became animals, and after the animals cultivated, they became gods, and there are many such records. The legend of the mermaid has also become a classic literary motif in later generations, and Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy tale "Daughter of the Sea" also tells the story of the mermaid.
In addition, there is a strange fish called the steamed bun in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, which is also a combination of various animals. This fish looks like an ox, lives in the mountains, has a snake's tail and wings, and can die and resurrect in winter, and it can also reduce swelling when eaten. In short, this fish has the characteristics of water, land and air, and also has an immortal physique, which is very strange.
Mythologist Liu Zongdi pointed out that "lù" is actually a mud carp (pangolin), and the overall shape of the pangolin is indeed similar to that of fish, and it can swim; Even if it looks like a cow, it may be a physical feature with a large head and a bulging back, and it is also somewhat similar to a cow. The snake's tail says that its tail is long, and the winged is said to have scales overlapping like wings. "Staying in the cow" is a consonant for "鯥". The resurrection of death in winter is precisely the characteristic of pangolin hibernation, and the author of the Classic of Mountains and Seas does not understand the habit of biological hibernation and mistakenly believes that the dead will come back to life. The ancients believed that pangolins could burrow, so pangolins have always been used as a medicinal herb to reduce swelling. You can say for a moment.
After the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", there are many naturalistic works, some of which also specially record fish and other seafood, such as Wu Shenying's "Chronicle of Foreign Objects in linhai water" of the Three Kingdoms, Tu Benyi's "Minzhonghai Mistakes" in the Ming Dynasty, Guo Baicang's "Hundred and One Records of Sea Mistakes" in the Qing Dynasty, and so on, as well as Zhao Zhiqian's "Different Fish Map" in the Qing Dynasty and Nie Huang's "Sea Mistake Map", which are both informative and ornamental. Because of the limitations of ancient insight, the fish recorded in these works are often false and real, true and false, both like reality and like legends; But this is more interesting and imaginative to read.