The fish you eat most often are actually the nightmare of Americans? !

Speaking of carp, you may forget what it tastes like, and all you can think of are the koi you have forwarded before; speaking of the "four major carps" - grass carp, silver carp and bighead carp, you may not know what they look like, but you can already taste the taste of pickled fish, boiled fish and braised bighead carp in your mouth...

Tianjin's famous dish, the carp, seems to be more about luck than food.

There are many stories about carp and grass carp, silver carp and bighead carp, such as why carp is not included in the four major carps? Why are Americans so afraid of "Asian carp"? Could it be grass carp that jumped the dragon gate?

Americans: Auspicious? I would really thank you.

Chinese people regard carp as auspicious, but Americans on the other side of the ocean have a headache when they mention carp. In recent years, there have been frequent reports of "fish disasters" in the United States: "Asian carp" were originally introduced from China to clean up pond algae, but later escaped in floods and gradually multiplied into a disaster. They are greedy and can grow fast, and they wantonly seize the survival resources of native fish and almost occupy all major water systems in the central and eastern United States... The worst thing is that Americans don't like to eat them!

In 2022, Americans renamed Asian carp Copi, which is taken from the meaning of "copious" which means abundant and prolific, to encourage people to eat more. But if you don't like to eat it, maybe it's because you are not good at cooking...

Image source: CCTV Finance

The so-called "Asian carp" is a general term for several types of fish, not all of which are carp as we Chinese call them. The two most serious ones, which Americans call "silver carp" and "big-head carp", are called silver carp and bighead carp in the Chinese vegetable market, respectively! They are called the traditional "four major carps" of China along with black carp and grass carp, which have also invaded the United States. They belong to the same order Cypriniformes and family Cyprinidae as carp, and are cousins.

Identify the four major fish species

Black carp: Slender and strong. Generally large, the ones sold in the market are often over 5 kg, and it is not uncommon to see one meter long. Almost all of the body except the belly is dark blue. The head is pointed and the mouth opens downwards, feeding on bottom snails. The scales are relatively large.

Grass carp: Its body is almost elongated and cylindrical, which makes it easy to move through the water grass. Its large diamond-shaped scales are neatly arranged, shiny and eye-catching. Its head is short and wide, its mouth is wide and protrudes forward, and its lips are thick, which is suitable for tearing grass leaves to eat.

Silver carp: It has a large head and an upward-opening mouth, because it feeds mainly on phytoplankton in the upper layer of the water. It has fine scales and a bright white body, and is also known as silver carp. The protruding keratin "belly ridge" on its abdomen extends from behind the gills to the anus.

Bighead carp: commonly known as "fathead fish", with a particularly large head. The mouth opens upwards to swallow zooplankton in the upper layer of the water. The body is thick and heavy, wide in front and narrow in the back. The scales are small and there are dark spots on the body. The "belly ridge" runs from the pelvic fin to the anus.

In taxonomy, Cyprinidae is a large family that includes more than 2,000 species of fish, including the familiar carp, crucian carp, silver carp, bighead carp, dace, bream (Wuchang fish), etc. The largest of the Cyprinidae fish, the Siamese giant carp, can reach more than 2 meters in length and weigh more than 120 kilograms, while the smallest, the dan (a dan with a fish character next to it), is only 12 millimeters, the smallest fish known to date.

In your mouth? Okay, open your mouth.

Image source: YouTube

Cyprinid fish have no teeth in their mouths, but have specialized "pharyngeal teeth" in their throats that help grind food. Many species have fleshy "beard-like" tentacles around their mouths. But the secret of their prosperity lies in the diversity of their species. Cyprinid fish are widely distributed in Eurasia, North America, and western Africa. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, from predators on the upper water surface to grass-munching experts lying on the riverbed.

The vast variety of carp fish not only enriches people’s dining tables, but also decorates people’s fish tanks - the ordinary carp and crucian carp have been artificially bred into koi and goldfish with various shapes and sizes; there are also "zebra fish", "tiger barb", "black-line flying fox", "red-tailed black shark" in the tropical fish market... Can you imagine that these small and exquisite fish are also members of the carp family?

Ever since I learned that goldfish is crucian carp, I can tell the taste of crucian carp soup by looking at domestic goldfish

Why is carp not among the four major carps?

The silver carp and bighead carp that invaded the United States feed on plankton and are big eaters. They can eat up to 40% of their body weight in food a day. Their reproductive efficiency is also very high. A mature female silver carp or bighead carp can produce 3 million eggs a year! So many big fish suck up the nutrients in the water like a water purifier, making it difficult for local fish to survive.

The domineering "Asian carp" has caused great suffering to American fish, but the ancient Chinese used them to benefit their own intestines. The first carp to be domesticated was the carp. Fan Li, a counselor of Gou Jian, King of Yue during the Spring and Autumn Period, retired and changed his name to Tao Zhugong. He once became a millionaire by raising carp. Later, people introduced carp into rice fields and started "fish-rice farming".

The prototype of the man who wanted to get rich by selling fish in "The Rush" (bushi

Image source: Internet

In the Tang Dynasty, as society became more affluent, the demand for fish increased, and carp alone could no longer satisfy the demand. In addition, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty was named Li, so the word "carp" became taboo, and there was even a rule that carp was not allowed to be eaten throughout the country... Fishermen had no choice but to vigorously develop new species, and finally selected four carp species: black carp, grass carp, silver carp, and bighead carp.

Silver carp, bighead carp and carp can be raised in fish ponds just like carp. They are larger and grow faster than carp, and they are cheaper and more abundant. More importantly, the four species live in different water layers and need different food. They complement each other when raised together in proportion: black carp feeds on mollusks such as snails at the bottom of the water, grass carp feeds on aquatic plants in the middle and upper layers, and silver carp and bighead carp stay in the upper layers of the water. Silver carp mainly feeds on phytoplankton, while bighead carp mainly feeds on zooplankton.

Black carp is not afraid of snail shells, the pharyngeal teeth in the throat can directly crush the shells

Spit out the shell and meat together, and pick out the meat to eat

Image source: Wikipedia

This mixed culture technology that makes full use of space was basically mature by the Song Dynasty, and the "Four Major Fishes" became famous. Although carp is still popular, it has to take a back seat to grass carp, silver carp and bighead carp in the aquaculture industry.

Carp are not the only ones that can jump over the Dragon Gate

The four major carps have always been relatively low-key in the cultural field, and there is no famous allusion like "carp jumping over the dragon gate". In fact, due to their larger size and stronger strength, the jumping ability of the four major carps is not inferior to that of carp.

Retweet this little carp, and you will be the next one to jump over the dragon gate

Image source: Animation "Little Carp Jumping Over the Dragon Gate"

Especially the silver carp, which has a beautiful appearance, has a streamlined body and abundant physical strength. It is a well-known "athlete" among the edible fish of the carp family. Although both of them live in the upper layer of the water, the bighead carp is always lazy and does not like to move, while the silver carp has a hot temper and will jump violently when it feels nervous.

In the middle and lower reaches of the Illinois River in the United States, if you drive a boat around the river, you can see many silver carp jumping out of the water in shock, up to two or three meters high. To deal with this invasive species, Americans have built dams and electric fences, but they often jump over them.

Silver carp: If you don’t like to eat me, you won’t let me exercise

Some people have developed an extreme sport, using bows and arrows to shoot silver carp that jump out of the water. However, this is also dangerous - if a large fish weighing dozens of kilograms hits a person, it can cause minor injuries, but it can also knock the person directly into the river and cause a broken nose or concussion...

In Qiandao Lake, Zhejiang, my country, a "giant net fishing" activity is held every autumn. Hundreds of silver carp jump on the fishing nets, and the water surface is like a boiling pot, which is a spectacular sight. If you look closely, you will find that all the fishermen are wearing helmets...

Silver Carp: I'm dehydrated!

Nostalgia for the Four Major Carps

It’s hard to believe that the four major carps have been farmed for thousands of years, but they have always been difficult to reproduce in fish ponds. The ancients could only take the fry from rivers and lakes to raise them! It was not until the mid-20th century that Chinese scientists discovered that the ovaries of these fish can only mature under specific water temperature and water flow conditions, and the eggs can only hatch successfully in flowing water.

Now we finally have the technology to artificially breed them, but due to overfishing, pollution and the impact of water conservancy projects, the number of wild grass carp, silver carp and bighead carp is plummeting... Although they are very powerful in American water systems, they have to be saved in the Yangtze River by artificial release.

This year, Hubei Yichang released about 100,000 catties of river fish, including the four major carps

Image source: Yichang Fire Department

In addition to humans, the four major carps have natural fish enemies in their homeland, one of which is their carp cousin, the gǎn fish. The gǎn fish is a fish native to China, and is commonly known as the "water tiger" in many places. It has no teeth in its mouth, but has a slender body like a torpedo and an extremely greedy appetite. It chases and devours small fish at high speed in the water all day long, and one or two of them can "contract" all the fry in a fish pond. If the life of the gǎn fish were made into a movie, it would definitely be called "Fast and Furious".

In the early years, large bighead carps nearly 2 meters long and weighing 30 to 40 kilograms were often caught. However, they are so hated by fishermen and taste so delicious that they are no longer common today.

Catfish: My weakness is that I am too delicious...