Is the cutlassfish a freshwater fish or a saltwater fish? Learn about the cutlassfish's habitat in one article

The cutlassfish is a fish with extremely delicious meat, tender in texture, rich but not greasy, and loved by many people. So is the cutlassfish a freshwater fish or a saltwater fish?

1. Is the cutlassfish a freshwater fish or a saltwater fish?

The cutlassfish is a freshwater fish. Every spring, from late February to early March, groups of individuals migrate from the sea into rivers and their tributaries or lakes to spawn. The young fish hatched that year drift downstream and live in estuaries or brackish water, then go out to sea the following year to grow and fatten up.

Due to worsening pollution in the Yangtze River and excessive fishing, cutlassfish production has declined year by year. The cutlassfish has an elongated, laterally thin body, much like a pointed knife, and is silvery white with tender meat, but it has many fine hair-like bones. The meat is delicious, rich but not greasy, with a faint fragrance. After Qingming, the cutlassfish's meat becomes tough, commonly known as old cutlassfish.

2. The nutritional value of the cutlassfish

The fat content of the cutlassfish is higher than that of ordinary fish, and it is mostly unsaturated fatty acids. These fatty acids have longer carbon chains and can lower cholesterol, making the cutlassfish an ideal nourishing food for the elderly, children, and pregnant and postpartum women; the scales and silvery-white fatty layer all over the cutlassfish's body also contain an anti-cancer component, 6-thioguanine, which is beneficial as an adjunct treatment for leukemia, stomach cancer, lymphatic tumors, and other conditions; the cutlassfish is rich in magnesium, which has a very good protective effect on the cardiovascular system and helps prevent cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure and myocardial infarction.

In ancient traditional Chinese medicine, the cutlassfish was believed to have functions such as nourishing the liver, dispelling wind, and stopping bleeding, and to be effective in treating bleeding, sores, carbuncles, and swellings; cutlassfish scales are a raw material for making antipyretic analgesic tablets and anti-tumor drugs. The scales contain a variety of unsaturated fatty acids and have the effect of lowering cholesterol. The cutlassfish is suitable for people who have been ill for a long time and are weak, those with blood deficiency and dizziness, shortness of breath and fatigue, poor appetite and emaciation, and malnutrition. It can not only harmonize the stomach and stimulate appetite, but also has the effect of moisturizing the skin and beautifying the complexion.

Although the cutlassfish has delicious meat, its production has declined in recent years, and the price of cutlassfish is relatively expensive.