There is such a frog, its appearance is like a stone, and its appearance can be said to be unremarkable. But it is such a frog that was almost eaten and extinct by humans? Now it is not only a national second-class protected animal, anyone who tries to catch, sell or taste it without permission will be punished by law.
How can such an inconspicuous-looking stone frog have such a big pie, how delicious is it, and what kind of species is it?
What is the difference between a mediocre stone frog and other frogs?
The stone frog is also known as the "spiny breasted frog" because of the dense, black spinous sacs on its chest. It is said to be able to make a loud sound, so it is also called "Bangbang Fish".
The stone frog is mainly distributed in Guangxi, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places in the mainland, and is a large wild frog unique to the mainland.
Stone frogs live in an excellent ecological state, they like to live in mountain streams about 1500 meters above sea level, especially like the damp and shady, dimly lit mountain streams in the puddles, the crevices or stone caves next to the stream are their favorite place to settle down. Moreover, the stone frog has relatively high requirements for the quality of the environment, especially the spring water, and the stone frog can only survive in a watery environment without parasites.
So, if there are stone frogs in one place, it means that the environment is very good and there is no pollution here.
Stone frogs usually rest during the day and only go out to feed in the evening. They have a mixed diet, mainly insects and earthworms, but also small fish, rabbits, crustaceans, and sometimes plants.
Eating mosquitoes is a way for stone frogs to gain immunity, and it is this way that allows them to solve many pests. Therefore, the stone frog is also the favorite of farmers and uncles, and they have made a lot of contributions to the crops, and they are good helpers for human beings.
However, don't look at the stone frogs as frogs, but they are very bold, and when necessary, they dare to eat even snakes.
This is all thanks to the frog's strong and powerful forearms, which are not only strong and powerful, but also half as long as their body length, allowing them to hold the snake and suffocate it.
Someone observed that there was a poisonous snake that wanted to take the stone frog as its dinner today, but did not expect that just as the poisonous snake was about to approach the stone frog, the stone frog suddenly jumped towards the poisonous snake, and hugged the snake neck with its thick forelimbs, the poisonous snake could not move, and several stone frogs rushed over and pounced on the poisonous snake.
No matter how the poisonous snake struggled, the stone frog just refused to let go, and even hugged it tighter and tighter, and finally the man saw the stone frog dragging the suffocated poisonous snake back to their old nest. How can this spectacle not be surprising.
Stone frogs, bullfrogs and toads, stupid and can't tell the difference?
Some people confuse stone frogs with bullfrogs, after all, they both look ugly and cute, and they both have warts growing on their backs. But in reality, the two species are still very different.
First of all, the families and genera of these two organisms are not the same, the stone frog belongs to the genus Spiny-breasted frog and is an amphibian, while the bullfrog belongs to the genus Frog and is an aquatic animal.
In the production area, the stone frog is a species endemic to the mainland, and the real hometown of the bullfrog is the United States, which was introduced to the mainland from Cuba and Japan in 1959.
In terms of morphology, stone frogs are larger and stout than bullfrogs, with flat and broad heads, short torsos, flat and flat, tailless, and no obvious neck shape.
In addition, the forelimbs of male stone frogs are special, otherwise how can they dare to compete with poisonous snakes? They have narrow and long warts of different lengths on their backs, and their abdomen is pale yellowish-white, and their ventral surface is relatively smooth and white.
The head of the bullfrog is relatively wide and flat, the mouth is in a terminal position, there is a round eardrum on both sides of the face, the eyes protrude outward, and the back is slightly rough compared with the stone frog, with fine. Although bullfrogs have thick limbs, their forelimbs are shorter, but their hind limbs are longer, webbed between the toes, and their skin color varies according to their living environment, usually the back and limbs are greenish-brown, the back has dark brown markings, the head and mouth are bright green, and the ventral surface is white.
In addition, the color of the lower throat of bullfrogs varies from male to female, with females mostly white and gray, while males are golden yellow and have a loud call.
Perhaps to the uninitiated, they still look very similar. But in the eyes of foodies, there is no difference between these two kinds of frogs, both horizontal and vertical can be eaten.
Compared with the stone frog and the toad (toad), it is still relatively easy to distinguish clearly, because the toad is so "distinctive".
In appearance, the face of the toad is larger, and the eardrum is more pronounced and oval. However, if you want to say the most eye-catching, it must be the small bump on the back of the toad. Male toads have very rough skin, with wart grains of varying size on their heads, upper eyelids, back, and abdomen, while females have fewer warts.
Why is it so valuable?
Although many people think that the stone frog looks mediocre, they may not know that the value of the stone frog has been speculated by the market.
It is said that at present, stone frogs can reach a value of 135~200 yuan a pound in the market, and it can be said that their market prospects are very broad.
In the eyes of foodies, the stone frog is a mountain delicacy, and there are a variety of cooking methods, such as: braised stone frog, stir-fried stone frog, stewed stone frog, etc., no matter how it is burned, it is very delicious.
Wencheng is located in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, which is the "hometown of longevity" in China, and the local specialty is the Tongling forest health dish represented by "three leaves and five stones". Among them, the stone frog is one of their favorite dishes of the locals, and it is also a dish that tourists will want to try when they come here.
Not only is the stone frog delicious, it is also said to carry the "secret of longevity".
Stone frogs are high in protein, vitamins and minerals, such as vitamins A, B1, B2, C and niacin. In addition, the stone frog contains 17 kinds of amino acids, of which 8 are high in essential amino acids, especially glutamate, which is as high as 11.9%. Stone frog also contains rich glucose, iron, phosphorus and vitamin A, B and other more than 10 kinds of nutrients needed by the human body, and the protein content in the muscle is as high as 18.55% ~ 19.39%, which can be said to be a great tonic.
In addition, the environmental conditions for the stone frogs to live are good, and they have certain high requirements for the ecological environment, so such ingredients are also very clean, which has killed many organisms that may carry microorganisms on the market.
Moreover, people who have seen stone frogs in mountain streams say that stone frogs generally adopt the survival rule of living together, and they can catch dozens to hundreds of them in a nest.
In addition, the social habits of stone frogs are a bit like bee ants, especially the nest of bee ants is always free of excrement, this is because the feces of the queen bee and the queen ant will be removed from the burrow by the worker bee ants in time, and other bee ants do not excrete in the burrow. It can be seen how clean the habitat of the stone frog is, which is really reassuring to eat!
It's no wonder why many foodies would rather spend a lot of money to eat a bite of a stone frog!
Maybe the stone frog himself didn't expect that the combat effectiveness of Chinese foodies is too strong. Originally, the number of female stone frogs could reach 300 at a time, but it still could not withstand the demand for Chinese foodies.
Nowadays, the stone frog has been eaten as a protected animal, and the number is difficult to return to its former state.
In order to avoid the stone frog going to a dodo-like end, the state finally intervened.
According to national law, if someone illegally hunts more than 20 wild stone frogs, he will be investigated for criminal responsibility, and if he hunts more than 50 wild frogs, it will be a major criminal case and will be sentenced to corresponding fixed-term imprisonment. Wild stone frogs are also banned from the market, and those foodies can no longer eat wild stone frogs.
Although some foodies may be disappointed, the farmed stone frogs can also be eaten, but it is not easy to eat the farmed stone frogs.
The future is great, but no one dares to test the waters?
Breeding stone frogs can indeed be a way to make a fortune, after all, they still have a large audience. However, breeding stone frogs is not common in the market, and it still costs a lot of money to buy them, so why does artificial breeding on stone frogs not work?
As mentioned above, stone frogs have high requirements for the environment, macro to the temperature of the entire breeding environment, and the water source of their life, all need to be considered one by one.
The water quality of the breeding stone frog must be very clean, and there can be no impurities, otherwise it is easy for the stone frog to suffer from diseases. In the breeding pond of stone frogs, it is forbidden to contain chlorine-containing tap water, change the water depending on the water temperature and water quality, change the water once a day at 20~26 °C, and when the temperature exceeds 37 °C, the water depth is kept at 10-20 cm, etc., the requirements are not only many but also very complex, and even some are not controlled by man.
There are many common diseases of stone frogs, such as red leg disease, rotten skin disease, water mold disease, gastroenteritis, etc., which are easy to suffer from these diseases if you are not careful, and it is easy to be raised to death directly.
And also take into account the cost of site rent and equipment, stone frog seedlings and feed, medicine and vaccines, water, electricity and labor, etc., if the stone frog accidentally dies of illness, it is a serious loss-making business, so it is not that everyone does not want to do this business, but dare not do it.
Moreover, the stone frog is not rich to raise, before breeding must be approved by the local government department, to apply for the "Wild Animal Domestication and Breeding License", "Business License", "Health License", "Business License", "Tax Registration Certificate", "Special Breeding License", "Epidemic Prevention Certificate", etc., quite troublesome.
It can be said that before the implementation of the plan began, I was already confused by the previous requirements.
However, once the breeding thing is done well, it is to make a fortune directly.
In Guangchang County, Jiangxi Province, there is a stone frog ecological breeding farm, and the farmer He Weiping has successfully raised stone frogs. With his gradual understanding of stone frogs and the gradual maturity of breeding technology, he also began to know how to reduce production costs, ensuring that there are adult frogs that can be sold every year, which is conducive to the return and turnover of funds.
At present, He Weiping's farm has a total of nearly 60,000 frog seedlings, nearly 40,000 young frogs, adult frogs are expected to sell about 16,000 catties this year, and the output value can reach more than 2 million. But his requirements are not limited to this, his next goal is to make it bigger and bring the whole village to prosperity.
I also hope that more people can try this delicious stone frog in the future.
However, the fighting power of Chinese foodies is so strong that they can eat stone frogs to the brink of extinction, how can they not be surprised.
It seems that in the animal kingdom, no matter what kind of animal it is, their biggest natural predator is not other animals, but foodies!