Have you ever heard that catfish are raised from eating manure in a cesspit, then scooped up and made into dishes and served on people's tables?
This popular "dung pit catfish" is called the Egyptian pond catfish, because of its legend, many people quit catfish, but is this really the case?
The Egyptian pond fish, commonly known as the leather-bearded catfish or Egyptian bearded fish, is native to the Nile River basin in Africa. It is a carnivorous omnivorous fish that grows 5-6 times faster than native catfish and spawns 3-4 times a year.
The Egyptian pond fish is a freshwater benthic fish that inhabits lakes, rivers and marshes. It has respiratory aids on its coral-like gills and can breathe through the skin, directly extracting oxygen from the air. Generally, fish require a dissolved oxygen content of at least 0.7~1.0mg/L in the water, but the Egyptian pond fish can still survive normally in a 0.128mg/L environment, so it can live in a low-oxygen environment for several months.
Growing up eating feces, carrion, heavy metals, how dirty is the pond catfish? Can I eat it?
Egyptian pond fish
Perhaps it is because it is easy to reproduce, resistant to low oxygen and strong in low temperature. In 1981, the Egyptian pond fish was introduced to the mainland as an aquaculture species and was widely cultured in South China. When the Egyptian pond fish was first introduced, farmers had little experience, and there was no uniform feeding standard in the country. Therefore, fish are often fed with pigs in the water, leftovers, etc. Of course, there are also people who feed with feces.
Why do you use manure as fish feed?
At the end of the last century, the culture model of pig manure feeding fish was promoted in rural areas of the mainland, and some areas still use this farming method. Pig manure is actually high-quality fish feed, pigs can only digest and absorb 20%~30% of the nutrients in the feed, and the remaining nutrients will be discharged with food residues. For fish with weak digestion, pig manure is not only nutritious, but also easier to digest and absorb. Some people will "draw inferences", thinking that people eat better than pigs, then human manure must also be used as fish feed, so there will be a situation where pond fish are kept in a dung pit.
The fecal sewage outlet extends directly to the fish pond, but whether it is pig manure or human manure, it may carry viruses and bacteria, so it must be harmlessly treated before it can be used as fertilizer, which is what we often call compost, killing parasites and pathogenic bacteria in the feces before it can be put into the fish pond.
Can Egyptian pond fish survive in dung pits?
You must have seen a video before, in which pond fish are densely packed in a dung pit, opening their mouths and revealing the surface of the water. Many people think that they are eating feces, in fact, because the organic matter in the feces consumes too much oxygen in the water in the process of decomposition, so that pond fish can not eat it, so they need to show their heads to supplement oxygen by swallowing air.
When the Egyptian pond fish was first introduced, it was a fish intensively raised with pellet feed, and the meat quality was very tender, but it was because of these wrong breeding methods that the meat quality of the pond fish was getting worse and worse, and it also had a fishy smell, so diners did not like to buy it, so it gradually faded out of the consumer's vision.
Fecal-fed pond fish ponds
How did the rumor that the Egyptian pond fish grew up eating feces come about?
Due to the poor sales of Egyptian pond fish, many farmers also neglected the management of fish ponds, and the awareness of biosecurity was also very weak, resulting in Egyptian pond fish being discarded into natural waters or escaping into natural waters by itself, because of its tenacious vitality and reproductive speed, widely distributed in many rivers in South China, posing a serious threat to the mainland's native biological and aquatic ecosystems, and Egyptian pond fish has also become an invasive species.
Their eggs enter lakes and ponds in large numbers along rivers and pipes. The overbreeding of pond fish makes the water murky and looks like it is in a cesspool, so this sight has allowed some irresponsible people to seize the opportunity to spread rumors that the catfish we eat are raised in the cesspool, bringing the rhythm and making consumers avoid it. In fact, not all Egyptian pond fish are raised in dung pits, only some of the above irresponsible people will put pond fish into dung pits.
Egyptian pond fish in the sewers
So can Egyptian pond fish be eaten
In fact, many fish can be fed with treated manure, such as our native farmed silver carp, crayfish, tilapia, etc. Almost all of these consumers' favorite aquatic products have formed breeding norms, and farmers also use feed more, and manure feeding is only an auxiliary method. There are also some problems with the Egyptian pond fish that are now farmed on a large scale.
The farming density of Egyptian pond fish is very high, giving people the feeling that there are more fish than water, and a fish pond can even breed 100,000 jin of fish, so the water quality and the quality of fish are still difficult to guarantee.
Therefore, pond fish raised with treated manure can be eaten, there will be no viruses and bacteria, but many people can't get through that level in their hearts. You can't tell what kind of breeding method is used to raise pond fish dishes on the market, so it's reassuring.
Catfish is a favorite food of Chinese people. Many people are worried, what if I eat catfish outside, and the unknown Egyptian pond fish used by the merchants to impersonate ordinary catfish? Nor is there no solution
First, it is recommended to order catfish outside to eat live fish freshly killed, you can see the complete appearance of the fish you bought, it is very good to distinguish Egyptian pond fish and native catfish. The pond fish has 8 beards, and the wild pond fish are large, mostly more than 2 kg, with a flat head. The native catfish has only 4 beards, two above and two on the bottom, and is not as large as the Egyptian pondfish.
Second, do not buy good pieces of catfish meat after slaughtering, the good pieces of fish meat will really not be able to distinguish its varieties.
Third, eat catfish and do not order takeaway. I believe that everyone has a number in their hearts, there is no lack of black-hearted merchants who do takeaway, in case you go to which dung pit to catch some wild pond fish to come back and do it, it is likely to bring viruses and bacteria.
So consumers need to keep their eyes open when eating catfish. When the source of catfish cannot be guaranteed, it can be eaten without eating.