In the past few years, many anglers have complained that Wanfeng Lake, where they often go fishing, is no longer a fishing paradise. Wanfeng Lake, originally a paradise and fishing mecca with a variety of fish, is now scarce and can be caught at every turn - African crucian carp.
They are all fish, so why do anglers look disgusted when they see them, and African crucian carp is not a popular species in the market, and there are many people who dislike them?
What kind of existence is the African crucian carp, which is not loved by everyone?
African crucian carp, in layman's terms, is tilapia that we can see in the market. Especially in some diet meals, many people can see tilapia.
African crucian carp and pomfret flatfish are a bit similar, their bodies are flattened, but African crucian carp is still very recognizable, their dorsal fin is very developed, and there are many longitudinal or reticulated markings on it, and the whole is a yellow-brown and yellow-brown.
African crucian carp is a tropical fish, which likes high temperatures, is tolerant of low oxygen and high salinity, especially if the water temperature is lower than 10°C, it will freeze to death, so this is why it is difficult for us to see news about them in the north. But in general, the vitality of the African crucian carp is still very tenacious, and it can live in both the sea and fresh water.
And in terms of food, African crucian carp is not picky eaters and is omnivores. Usually eat some phytoplankton, but also eat aquatic insects and small fish and shrimp, and eat a huge amount of food.
Originally produced in Mozambique, Africa, the fish was naturally attracted to mainland fishery researchers because of its fast growth, adaptability and oxygen tolerance. With the establishment of diplomatic relations between the mainland and African countries, this crucian carp has also begun to be slowly introduced to the continent.
In 1978, the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences introduced this Nile tilapia from Sudan, and after years of monoculture and hybridization, this Nile tilapia can grow to more than half a catty in a year, which greatly increases their growth rate.
Subsequently, in 1985, 1992, 1995 and 1998, the mainland introduced native fish species from Egypt and South Sudan for large-scale aquaculture in the southern part of the mainland.
There are also more and more varieties of these tilapias, such as Mozambican mouth hatching carp, Nile tilapia, red tilapia, and Olya tilapia, which grow very fast.
Why is African crucian carp hated by everyone now?
When it comes to this fish, no one will regard it as a treasure, or even a hint of disgust. After all, African crucian carp is an alien species, and they have seriously affected many ecological environments.
According to statistics, among all invasive species, tilapia can be said to be the most potentially harmful species, and their overall number ranks high in China, and even ranks in the top ten.
Although African crucian carp are tropical fish, they evolve as they cross from generation to generation, becoming an extremely resilient species.
Some anglers have complained that there are too many African crucian carp, and every single catch is African crucian carp. Especially in Wanfeng Lake, it originally belonged to a "fishing holy place" with rich fish and beautiful water, which could attract hundreds of anglers to come to fish.
Originally, there were many fish species that could be caught in Manbong Lake, and the lake was rich in native fish such as silver carp, grass carp, herring, crucian carp, carp, bream, warped mouth, red tail, and catfish.
However, in recent years, with the invasion of the African crucian carp, its population has been expanding, resulting in a smaller and smaller number of other fish species, making it much more difficult for anglers to catch other fish species.
To be able to fight their natural enemies in a lake, they need to have the characteristics of high production and early maturity, and these African crucian carp have all the characteristics.
First of all, the sexual maturity time of African crucian carp is very short, it only takes 4-6 months to mature. Moreover, a female tilapia weighing about 200 grams can carry 1000~1500 eggs, not to mention those large African crucian carp that can grow to a weight of one or two kilograms.
These African crucian carp can lay eggs once a month, and then they can reproduce all year round, making them crazy fertility machines. In addition, the survival rate of their offspring is still very high.
After fertilization, these eggs are held in the mouth of the female, and the embryos hatch in the female's mouth. When the water temperature is 25~30°C, it only takes 4~5 days to hatch juveniles, and the rate of population expansion is quite amazing.
Even when the eggs hatch into fry, the female does not immediately spit the fry out of her mouth.
Because the mother fish will worry that their children are not able to survive outside, or be eaten by other big fish, they generally wait for the fry to have a certain swimming ability before spitting out the fry, so that the survival rate of the fry is higher.
What's even more interesting is that even though the fry are out of their mother's mouth, they still move around the female. Once they sense danger, they will quickly gather into a ball, and the female will once again suck "this ball" into her mouth for protection. In charge of the animal kingdom, this kind of care is also very rare, but it does protect the fry so that they can thrive.
What's even more despicable is that these African crucian carp not only eat some plants and microorganisms, they also eat the eggs of other fish as well as some small fish, small shrimp, and so on.
As the population of African crucian carp gradually expands, it also means that they will compete with other fish for food, squeeze the living space of other fish, inhibit the growth of other fish populations, and destroy biodiversity.
So that's why anglers haven't caught many other fish species in recent years.
Some anglers complain that in the past, the fish in the Wanfeng Lake Reservoir were relatively easy to catch, and there was an endless stream of people who came here to fish in the wild, but now most of the fish caught are African crucian carp. Then, the larger African crucian carp can be fished, and the strength can be enjoyable.
But the most devastating thing is catching an African crucian carp the size of a fingernail, which is a large school, too many, not to mention that you can't finish fishing, and you can't even eat it!
In the market, tilapia is also significantly less popular than other species.
This is because the African crucian carp is so adaptable to survive and reproduce in large numbers, not to mention seawater and fresh water, even in stinky ditches and stinky fish ponds. African crucian carp grown up in these environments has a fishy smell and can carry some bacteria, so some people also call it "garbage fish". No matter how cheap these fish are, no one cares about them, and some people even throw them to wild cats and wild dogs, and they don't want to eat them, which shows their unpopularity.
The fish also has a serious impact on the local ecology, and the arrival of African crucian carp has led to the limited resources in Wanfeng Lake to be robbed of some of them, causing difficulties for the growth of native fish.
Moreover, there were no carnivorous fish in the freshwater area of the continent, and the emergence of African crucian carp meant that the natural enemies of these fish appeared, and in such an environment, African crucian carp did not have any opponents, so slowly it began to dominate.
Everyone at home dislikes it, and foreign countries regard it as a treasure?
Although African crucian carp is not very popular in China, it has become a popular delicacy abroad.
In Japan and the United States, tilapia is a very common delicacy, especially in Japan, this fish is also called "white salmon". In their eyes, tilapia itself is delicate and contains a lot of protein, fat and a variety of amino acids, and its protein content is higher than that of chicken.
And abroad, this fish also brings excellent economic benefits to local fishermen, after all, African crucian carp is easy to feed, reproduces quickly, and produces a lot of money, which can bring fishermen a lot of money.
In the eyes of their local fishermen, African crucian carp also has the characteristics of fast growth, strong disease resistance, extensive farming, and a wide range of food sources, which means that they are cheap to breed and can be started without spending too much cost.
You know, in foreign countries, their locals love to eat some fish with fewer spines, such as carp, silver carp, etc., which are rampant abroad and no one eats them, because they have too many spines and the taste does not meet their taste.
And tilapia has few bones and can be cooked in a variety of ways, so it has become their favorite. They often process it into fish steaks, fillets, etc., because there are no fish bones, and it is much more convenient to eat, and it is simply a spokesperson for cheap and delicious.
Alien species other than tilapia
These African crucian carp are not only rampant in Wanfeng Lake, but also in the Three Gorges Reservoir area. According to the research of scientists, it was found that there is indeed a wild population of tilapia in the Yangtze River, and there are still a lot of them, which shows that tilapia has been increasing more and more recently, and even breaking through their previous survival limits.
In addition to the African crucian carp, there are many alien species on the continent, but most of these alien species cannot escape the fate of being eaten by Chinese foodies.
For example, the Egyptian pond fish, which is a native of the African crucian carp, is sometimes referred to as a "garbage fish" because it is a highly sustainable species, just like the African crucian carp. Even if they are thrown into the stinking gutter, they will still survive.
However, in recent years, the Chinese have opened up some new ideas to make it more delicious, such as braised pond fish, steamed pond fish, barbecue pond fish, etc., don't say, when Egyptian pond fish has been transformed by the Chinese, it looks quite delicious.
When it comes to invasive alien species, how can there be fewer famous bullfrogs and crayfish, especially the crayfish that are essential for everyone in summer, from being disliked in other countries to being in short supply in China.
In the last century, the Japanese introduced crayfish back to China and used them as feed for bullfrogs. Later, crayfish was introduced to China, and in the early days, it was disliked by foodies because of its lack of meat and hard shell, and its reproduction and adaptability were excellent, and it soon began to flood. Later, after artificial breeding, there are crayfish that are so delicious now.
Therefore, sometimes crayfish are also jokingly called the most aggrieved alien species.
In addition, such as oysters, white jade snails, sunfish, bamboo shoot shell fish, etc., are some of the objects that are subdued by our Chinese foodies.
Maybe even they themselves can't imagine that they originally wanted to "dominate" in China, but they are about to be eaten and "exterminated". I have to say that the combat effectiveness of Chinese foodies is really powerful!
Regardless of whether there will be a suitable solution for these species in the end, we should be wary of the invasion of more alien species.
After all, their impact on our local area is not ordinarily large, especially in terms of ecology, and once these invasive species are not controlled in time, the consequences will be unimaginable.