The Bancang Nature Reserve in the depths of Dabie Mountain has the only remaining natural broad-leaved forest in East China, a pig's head tip that is higher than the Tianzhu Peak of "Isolated Optimus Prime, Zhongtian Pillar", rare plants such as fragrant fruit trees, Dabie Mountain Five-needle Pine, fragrant trees and endangered animals such as tigers, leopards, white-necked long-tailed pheasants, giant salamanders, and pangolins. These treasures of nature, under the cover of high mountains and dense forests, under the shade of flying waterfalls and springs, and under the barrier of deep cliffs and ditches, enjoy a secret place that human beings can see from a distance and cannot be blasphemed. But there is a small fish as thick as a finger, down the mountain stream, playing among the streams and rocks, and the six or seven dark markings on the fish's body look like sparkling water waves next to the stone crevices. Villagers in Bancang Village, Taba Township, Qianshan City, who have moved out of the Bancang Nature Reserve and settled in the middle of the mountainside, call it "grouper".
Bancang Nature Reserve
This freshwater "grouper", scientific name light lip fish, and it is completely different from the common marine grouper in the market. The light-lipped fish is extremely picky about its environment and prefers alkaline, slightly cool, clear water, so it belongs only to this mountain forest. Fame has long flown out of Dabie Mountain, its flesh is delicate, delicious, so that people who have tasted it will never forget, so that people who admire it will salivate. Led by Han Kesheng, a writer from Shanghai who is a native of Qianshan, vice president of the Shanghai Anhui Economic and Cultural Promotion Association and chairman of the Cultural and Arts Committee, the writers' wind group came to Bancang on the day that Suo Ji came to Bancang, and they encountered the CCTV ten sets of "Taste" film crews who also insisted on this desire. The film crew asked everyone who had eaten the bare-lip fish, and only Han Kesheng shouted in the face of each other: "I have eaten, only in Tafa, delicious in the world!" ”
The bare-lipped fish comes from the Itakura Mountain Stream
The small amount and the rumble led to a shortage of supply, and for more than a decade, the price of bare lip fish has steadily climbed from 30 to 40 yuan per 500 grams to 70 or 80 yuan. In order to benefit both the villagers and the diners, scientists and aquaculturists have tried to artificially cultivate the light-lipped fish of Dabie Mountain as early as the turn of the century, but they have tried and failed repeatedly, just like a "Goldbach conjecture" in the field of fishery science and technology.
How do you make your dreams shine into reality? How to make a small fish leap and bloom at the tide of strong farmers and rich fishing? Chu Zhangjie, the professor who came out of the Dabie Mountains, did it today!
Endless caviar grandchildren
Down the mountain stream of the Itakura Conservation Area, down to a flat area, a series of square and connected high-platform cement ponds have been built next to the Hemi Stream, and the pond is densely packed with light-lipped fish fry!
Cement pool
Here is Anhui Banyuan Fishery Technology Co., Ltd. Covering an area of 7 acres, it includes 2 breeding workshops, 8 broodstock ponds, 20 seed breeding ponds, 60 breeding cages, 1 algae culture pond... The difference in name corresponds to all the links of the light-lipped fish from nature, to artificial breeding, and then to the listing of the box, which is explained in detail later.
Recent photo of Professor Chu Zhangjie
When I first met Chu Zhangjie, director of the Department of Aquaculture of Zhejiang Ocean University, it was difficult to hide my surprise. Fisherman's hat, waist-length rain pants, black and red face, wind and frost carved crow's feet, this is the "standard" of fishermen, right? Thinking about it, didn't Professor Chu also do the work of a fisherman? At the age of 55, he has been a township science and technology commissioner for 10 consecutive years. In the summer, he led the graduate students to carry out field teaching in the Banyuan Fishery, "writing papers on the field".
Professor Chu Zhangjie (pictured left) moved the "classroom" to the farm
On November 6-7 last year, the 4th China International Modern Fisheries & Fisheries Science and Technology Expo was held in Hefei, Anhui Province, and Professor Chu Zhangjie's team completed the project of "Ecological and Healthy Breeding Technology of Light-lipped Fish from the Depths of the Mountains" after 5 years of research in Zhejiang Base, which won the gold medal of the Expo.
Professor Chu, who successfully tackled the key research, first thought of applying the scientific research results to the rural revitalization of his hometown, Qianshan, Anhui. The Banyuan Fisheries, where he served as a technical advisor, was completed in the spring and summer of 2020. The light-lipped fish of the Itakura Mountain Stream were not carefully invited into the fish pond of the fishing grounds. As the first generation of captive parents, they will spend the entire autumn and winter in broodstock ponds.
"The light-lipped fish, which has experienced a cold winter, will perform better in the coming year. This is similar to the pain of fetal delivery, and some plants undergo suppression and drying before sowing or propagating. Speaking of this line, Professor Chu's eyes are shining and his expression is particularly vivid.
In his colorful description, the bare-lipped fish show the course of the past year: in winter, the water temperature of the broodstock pond is basically below 10 degrees Celsius, and the fish hardly eat or drink; from February to May this year, the weather is getting warmer, they enter the growth and development period, the simulated water in the broodstock pond makes them feel like they are in a mountain stream, they obviously do not have to be hungry and full of hard food, just open their mouths to artificially fed, nutrient-rich "compound feed" meals, the male fish are more robust due to focused growth, and the female fish are more belly-pooping; from May to July, Gonadal mature fish come to the hatching tank of the breeding workshop in batches, get meticulous prenatal care, the water temperature is set to the most comfortable breeding temperature - 20 to 25 degrees Celsius, male and female fish in the best state of sperm, eggs through artificial insemination, all into the hatching tank, hatching success rate exceeded 95%, 50% higher than natural reproduction; 3 days after hatching, these delicate juvenile fish will lie motionless on the bottom of the tank for 3 days, don't worry, their own yolk will provide nutrition, so that they can save enough strength After 3 days, they open their "cherry mouths" to be fed, at this time they must feed the very fine crystal cyst rotifers, 3 days later switch to water spiders, cast 2 days; this 11 days have passed, the fry grew to 30,000 per kilogram, out of the "baby incubator", moved to the outdoor seed breeding pond; in another month, they can grow 10 times, reaching 3,000 tails per kilogram, body length of about 3 centimeters, at this time the fry have safely passed the high-risk stage from juvenile fish to juvenile fish, which is enough to accept the adoption of farmers! For ease of operation, they can be placed in culture cages, fed according to a "fool-like" process, and wait for them to grow slowly and slowly.
Students are working in the bare-lipped fish breeding workshop
By the beginning of summer next year, when they weigh 20 to 30 tails per kilogram, they will be out of the box. The light-lipped fish that originally lived in Dabie Mountain will continue to "swim" to the Yangtze River Delta and even the whole country, and become the guests on the table of human beings. The most robust male and female fish are selected as the parents of the next generation of captive breeding, giving birth to the thriving and endless roe of the "fish".
Report card on the road to rural revitalization
Common fish such as crucian carp and grass carp can usually be caught in a few months; the bare-lip fish takes a whole year from fry to market, and the size is small, and the large ones are one or two. Why? Professor Chu answered: Light lip fish is a cold-water fish, more than 28 degrees Celsius bait feeding efficiency will decline, the slightly cold environment makes them grow slowly, the meat quality is therefore more smooth; crucian carp, grass carp and other fish, can tolerate high temperatures, even if the water temperature exceeds 35 degrees Celsius is still safe.
"At present, the income from the cultivation of bare-lipped fish is even more impressive." Professor Chu calculated an account: using still water soil ponds to raise, each mu can produce 500 kg; with cement ponds with flowing water devices, due to the increase in oxygen content, the breeding density can be increased, and the yield per mu is 1000 kg. The cost of purchasing seedlings and feed per kilogram is about 40 yuan, and if the unit price of sale is calculated at 140 yuan per kilogram, the annual profit per mu of earth pond is about 40,000 to 50,000 yuan, and the cement pool is about 80,000 or 90,000 yuan. It's quite tempting too!
Light lip fish fry
The first batch of fry produced by Banyuan Fisheries has entered the fisheries of more than 20 farmers in the Yangtze River Delta. Three or four farmers in Tama Township, Qianshan City, are also eager to try. When Cheng Yinlou, secretary of the Party Committee of Tafa Township, introduced these farmers to the Banyuan Fishery in Bancang Village, "Professor Chu was very generous with them. Cheng Yinlou said, "They insisted that the first batch of fish fry be sent free of charge, and the technology was taught for free, saying that these fish originally came from this big mountain, and they had the responsibility to let the farmers here benefit more and lay down the 'burden' to earn the first bucket of gold." Cheng Yinlou is very "optimistic" about these light-lipped fish, "using scientific research results to develop a high-end fish industry, it is expected to strengthen agriculture and rich fishing under the premise of ensuring the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, help cultural tourism, and revitalize the countryside." ”
Professor Chu's hometown is in Shuanglin Village, Yuantan Town, Qianshan City, and he knows that it is not easy for the villagers to plan food in the soil and work hard. There is little flat land in the mountains, and the places with large palms next to the streams are often picked up and planted, and an inch of land means one more bowl of rice and one more dish. When he was a child, he used to play in the mountain stream with his friends, and if he could touch a decent fish, he would run home like a deer.
Light-lipped fish into adults
Light-lipped fish served to the table
The occasional surprise of the past has now become a steady happiness in the hand. The first batch of bare-lip fish fry sold to the Yangtze River Delta region and donated to farmers has exceeded 5 million, which means that the number of commercial fish that will be put on the table in the next year will reach 150,000 kilograms, or about 20 million yuan in sales; with the second and third batch of fry breeding out of the pond on a larger scale, the above figure will double. The number is a report card on the road to rural revitalization, it is like a mirror, reflecting the more beautiful days of farmers and fishermen and the generous gifts of green mountains and rivers to mankind.
Footprints follow the original intention
Born from the artificial breeding of light-lipped fish fry, condensed with the wisdom and painstaking efforts of Professor Chu's team, who to give them to, Professor Chu can have a good investigation to ensure that these fish babies can grow into "fish". To this end, he has let more than a dozen farmers who have come to seek cooperation eat "closed door soup".
Banyuan Fishery Fishery
"The water quality in his area is acidic, so it is not suitable for raising this fish." In his view, whether the fry can be sold is secondary, and ensuring the interests of farmers is the starting point and foothold of artificial breeding of bare lip fish.
Previously, in the scientific and technological research of the Zhejiang base, tens of thousands of bare-lip fish fry had been infected with ovulic algae due to the acidic water quality, and almost all the ponds were destroyed overnight, and only 28 survived. Individual farmers with weak anti-risk ability must not be allowed to bear such losses! Professor Chu set a strict pH threshold for water quality: below 7 can not be raised, higher than 7 must also be further improved through ecological control measures to further improve its alkaline.
Professor Chu's students are feeding fry to the bare-lip fish
What ecological regulation measures? And you have to rely on magical algae. Let's listen to Professor Chu's how to popularize science: for light-lip fish, oviformis is a harmful algae, and chlorella and adherent algae are beneficial algae. Water quality with a pH value below 7 can easily breed ovate, and the bare-lipped fish infected with this algae will die in large areas, and even the entire farm will face extinction. Light lip fish breeding process will produce excrement, so that the water of nitrite, ammonia nitrogen and other components increased, such water is very suitable for cultivating chlorella, adherent algae, the introduction of these two beneficial algae into the breeding pool can improve the alkalinity of the pool water, once the pH reaches 8.5, light lip fish is difficult to re-infect pathogenic bacteria, so that people are very worry-free.
Professor Chu went to the countryside with technology
Disease prevention and control, increase in the amount of eggs conceived, large-scale breeding... Thinking back to the spring and autumn of several times in exchange for one after another scientific and technological bottlenecks being broken, Professor Chu never said bitter, happy in it: I like to do this!
"When I was a child, when I got into the water, I was so happy." His later footprints followed his original intention: in 1984, at the age of 18, he was admitted to Zhejiang Fisheries College, and in 1989, after graduating from university, he was assigned to be an aquatic technician in Jiucheng Farm, Anhui Province; he felt a lack of knowledge in his work, and was admitted to Huazhong Agricultural University as a master's degree candidate in 2000 and a doctoral degree in aquaculture at Huazhong Agricultural University in 2005; after graduation, he came to Zhejiang Ocean University as a teacher, regardless of cold and summer, moved the "classroom" to one farm after another, and cultivated students' practical ability in the sun and rain In 2012, he went to San Diego State University in the United States as a visiting scholar to exchange and learn the concept and measures of aquaculture ecological regulation; before tackling the artificial cultivation of bare-lip fish, he had accumulated rich experience in loach, yellow eel, South American white shrimp, crayfish, river crab and other aquaculture, and guided college students to win a number of national gold medals and invention patents in the innovation and entrepreneurship competition...
Professor Chu's students took a group photo next to the Itakura Mountain Stream
Along the way, there is only a starting point and no end, and another idea has gradually taken shape in his mind - the light-lipped fish is a hermaphrodite fish, and the edible taste of the light-lipped female fish is obviously better than that of the male fish, and the female fish is also much larger than the male fish. Professor Chu pondered: Is it possible that the offspring of the bare-lip fish that are artificially farmed are all female fish? In the experimental stage, he has obtained the desired results: using the female fish with female nucleus development as the parent, and turning some of the female fish into "false males" through artificial intervention, that is, genetically still female fish, but physiological traits as male fish. The uninsured female and the "false male" who are interfered with are artificially bred, and the next generation that is born is all female baby, and after testing, these next generations and the motherfish in nature are consistent in terms of genetic sequence, hormone levels, etc., that is, it is safe for eaters...
Because of professional habits, Professor Chu often hangs words such as male fish, female fish, sperm, egg, etc., in his eyes, these words are terms, carrying a purely scientific meaning. "Chu Gongmu", Han Kesheng's writer Brain Circuit Qingqi of the Wind Collecting Group, actually gave Professor Chu such a derogatory title. The reason why Han is so loud is because Han Chu and his classmates studied at Qianshan Yezhai Middle School 40 years ago, and this encounter is the first time they have seen each other again after 40 years. In the face of the nickname of his old classmate Qiang Sai, Professor Chu has no temper at all. The reproduction of human, fish and other life cannot be separated from the male and female sperm and eggs, and the diversification and harmonious symbiosis of organisms cannot avoid the exploration of the mysteries of life. Endless exploration, the most beautiful mountains and forests, the most beautiful life, the same can not be less.
Author: Han Jiang Xue
Editor: Jiang Shengxin