Is the shad a saltwater fish or a freshwater fish? Read this and you will understand

Shad is produced in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China, and the Hengjiang shad from the area between Dangtu and Caishi is the best in taste. It has long been praised as a rare delicacy in the waters of Jiangnan and was a tribute item in ancient times. So is the shad a saltwater fish or a freshwater fish?

1. Is the shad a saltwater fish or a freshwater fish

The shad is a saltwater fish. It is a filter-feeding fish that mainly feeds on plankton, and sometimes also eats diatoms and debris of other organic matter, but during its reproductive migration it rarely feeds.

2. Artificial breeding

1. Fry rearing

Because artificially hatched fry are weak and prone to injury and death, the entire larval stage is carried out in hatching circular channels similar to the natural environment. The water quality requirements are the same as those for hatching water, and a 0.1%-0.2% salt mass fraction is maintained to prevent death caused by Trichodina infection.

In the early stage, bait should be collected with a plankton net made of 50-mesh silk and fed at fixed times and fixed locations, 3 times a day; in the later stage, the feed should be filtered through window screening with a 1 mm mesh, and the feeding amount should be about 1.5 times the body weight of the fry.

2. Pond stocking technology

One week before stocking, the pond should be cleared and disinfected, base fertilizer should be applied at 7500 kg/ha, and an aerator should be installed. After stocking, 22.5 kg/ha of soybean milk should be splashed every day to make the water light green or light brown, so as to ensure that the shad has sufficient plankton feed. Generally, the plankton count is required to remain above 300 individuals/L. Try to keep the pond water both fertile and lively, and the dissolved oxygen content must be greater than 3 mg/L.

In addition, because shad move slowly at 15°C and die at around 13°C, after the beginning of autumn, when the water temperature approaches 15°C, the shad should be moved indoors to overwinter. The indoor water temperature should be controlled above 20°C, and bait should be fed once a day.

The shad is a rare and valuable economic fish of China. It is as famous as the pufferfish and the cutlassfish, and is traditionally known as one of the “Three Fresh Delicacies of the Yangtze River”. After the Chinese alligator, Chinese sturgeon, baiji, and Chinese sucker, the Yangtze shad has also suffered a population crisis.