Species Log | Hairy crabs that must be eaten in autumn, Li Bai and Su Dongpo have been crazy about it

The golden autumn of October, which has just passed, is a good time to eat hairy crabs. Autumn high and refreshing, crab yellow fat, according to the report jointly released by Hungry Mo and Hema Fresh, this year people eat crab enthusiasm is high, from July 1 to October 8 this year, hairy crab takeaway sales increased by 29.1% year-on-year, corresponding to takeaway users increased by 29.4% year-on-year.

If you have eaten enough crabs, you may wish to learn about the story of hairy crabs. The scientific name of the hairy crab is The Chinese river crab, also known as the river crab, hair crab, and clear water crab. Because of the dense fluff on the inner and outer edges of the palm, it is called the river crab.

Like many fish, hairy crabs have a tradition of migrating during the reproductive season.

From June to July every year, the newborn juvenile crabs follow the river into fresh water and inhabit the banks of rivers and lakes. They prefer to burrow or hide in gravel or aquatic vegetation.

By the autumn of each year, adult hairy crabs often swim back to the offshore to breed, the eggs carried by the mother hatch between March and May of the following year, and the larvae undergo multiple metamorphosis to develop into juvenile crabs, and then go back to the river and river to continue to grow in fresh water.

The postpartum female crabs die one after another until the end of June and the beginning of July, while the male crabs die after mating, and the lifespan is 2 months shorter than that of the female crabs. The mature Chinese river crab has a lifespan of only 1 year, but individuals with slow gonadal maturation have a longer lifespan, some up to 3 to 4 years.

Hairy crabs are omnivores, and fish, shrimp, snails, mussels, worms, earthworms, insects and their larvae may become food for hairy crabs.

In China, hairy crabs are widely distributed in lakes along the north and south coasts, of which the Yangtze River system has the largest production. Among them, the more famous ones are Dongting Lake hairy crab, Taihu lake hairy crab, Yangcheng Lake hairy crab, Changdang Lake hairy crab and so on.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Chinese river crab was transplanted to Germany with sea boats, and then spread along the Rhine River, and now it has spread to the waters of many European countries. In recent years, there have been many rumors about the flood of hairy crabs in Belgium, the United Kingdom and other places, which has made many Chinese foodies shout "let me come".

Origin of the name

Why are hairy crabs commonly known as "hairy crabs"?

Bao Xiaotian once wrote a "Hairy Crab History" for this name, and he mentioned that the three words "hairy crab" may come from the mouth of Suzhou crab sellers. "People always like to eat crabs before dinner, or on an ad hoc basis, so these crab sellers always pick up their burdens in the afternoon and shout along the street: 'Hairy crabs come to hairy crabs.'"

This "hairpin" character, pronounced "SA", ("SA" means boiled in the Wu dialect) Crab is eaten by boiling water, which is called "SA crab".

Another theory is: "Whoever catches crabs, they shall set up a gate in the harbor and weave it with bamboo." At night, come to the gate, put a light, the crab sees the fire, that is, climb up the bamboo gate, that is, catch it one by one on the gate, which is very convenient, which is the name of the hairy crab. "The crab caught on the bamboo gate is called the hairy crab, and the larger crab is called the hairy crab.

A gossip about crabs

China has a history of eating crabs for nearly 5,000 years. In the Yangtze River Delta, archaeologists excavated the Songze culture in Qingpu, Shanghai, and the Liangzhu culture in Yuhang, Zhejiang, and found that among the wastes eaten by our ancestors, there were a large number of river crab shells.

In the Tang Dynasty, the great poet Li Bai especially liked to drink crabs, and once had a verse cloud: "Crab claws are gold liquid, and bad hills are Penglai." And must drink fine wine, take the moon drunk high platform. ”

Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty once exchanged poems for crabs: "It is ridiculous that Wu Zhongfeng is too defensive, and one poem is exchanged for two sharp clusters (crabs are called sharp clusters in ancient times). And Xu Xiangdao wrote a poem: "Don't live up to the eyes of Lushan Mountain, and don't eat crabs to live up to the belly." I also know that the two are difficult to merge, and I have enough to get to Jiujiang. ”

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the literati Yashi pin crab is not only the appetite of the mouth, but also the cultural enjoyment, crab is often carried out together with chrysanthemum appreciation, chanting, and everyone has a set of special tools, Su Huhang commonly known as "crab eight pieces".

The eight pieces of crab include a small square table, a waist round hammer, a long-handled axe, a long-handled fork, a round-headed scissor, a tweezer, a brazel, a small spoon, and a pad, a knock, a split, a fork, a shear, a clip, a pick, a sheng and other functions.

From the Ming Dynasty to the early years of the Republic of China, on this basis, crab eating tools have developed into three crabs (ding, sign, hammer), four, six, eight, ten, twelve, and the largest set of crab eating tools in the heyday was as many as sixty-four.

The "overbearing" characteristics of hairy crabs are also often used as satires. Qi Baishi once inscribed a poem on the painting of "Looking at the King's Line with His Hands": "I often look at the crab with cold eyes, and see how long it will be when Er will run rampant?" To mock corrupt officials.