Where is the origin of whitebait? Introduction to the distribution of main production areas
Whitebait is the collective name for various semi-transparent fish species of the genus Salanx in the family Salangidae, also known as firecracker fish, noodle fish, noodlefish, etc. They are freshwater or marine fish, commonly found in the brackish and fresh waters of East Asia, and are regarded as a delicacy in China. The body is slender, salmon-like, scaleless or with fine scales, rarely longer than 15 cm, with a large mouth and large, sharp teeth. Let us take a look below at where whitebait comes from!
Where is the origin of whitebait?
Whitebait is a freshwater fish that can live in coastal waters and has the habit of migrating from the ocean to rivers. It is distributed along the coastal areas from Shandong to Zhejiang, and is especially abundant in Wabu Lake in Shou County, Anhui; Chenxi Lake in Huoqiu County; Poyang Lake; Chaohu Lake; Taihu Lake; Nüshan Lake in Mingguang City, Anhui; Daguang Lake in Xiakeng, Susong County, Anhui; Mahu Lake in Leibo County, Sichuan; and even Chongming, Shanghai, at the mouth of the Yangtze River. China's Taihu Lake, West Lake, and Mahu Lake are the three major whitebait-producing lakes. A small number of species are distributed to Korea, Japan, and the Sakhalin region of the Russian Far East.
Living habits of whitebait
1. Habitat: In ponds, whitebait mostly lives in the middle and lower layers, and except when there is a lack of oxygen, it is rarely found active in the upper layers. If there are aquatic plants around the pond or on the pond bottom, it often burrows into them. Juvenile and young fish have a strong phototaxis and can be attracted into groups at night with light, but adult fish do not have this characteristic.
2. Feeding: Whitebait is a carnivorous fish, mainly feeding on small fish and shrimp. After hatching, young fish begin feeding at 10 days of age, with rotifers as the food, and later gradually choose larger and more easily obtained zooplankton as food, in the order of nauplii, copepodites, cladocerans, and adult copepods.
3. Reproduction: The gonadal development and spawning characteristics of whitebait in ponds are basically the same as in natural waters. In the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the spawning peak is from late December to late January. In hard-bottomed ponds with aquatic plants, spawning is relatively concentrated, and the fertilization rate can reach 80-90%.
Species distribution of whitebait
1. Zhuhu whitebait of Poyang County: The reason whitebait is called whitebait originates from Zhuhu whitebait of Poyang Lake. Most whitebait elsewhere have other names, and only because they are the same species and genus as Zhuhu whitebait were they also unified as whitebait in official exchanges. Poyang County has historically been known as "Silver Poyang," which is said to be related to Zhuhu whitebait.
2. Dongting Lake whitebait: Dongting Lake whitebait is cylindrical, with the tail slightly compressed laterally, a flat head, a short pointed snout, and large eyes. The body has no scales and is as white as silver. The body is soft as if boneless and gutless, semi-transparent, wandering in the water like silver shuttles weaving brocade, and fast as a silver arrow leaving the bowstring, so the ancients also likened it to a jade hairpin and a silver shuttle.
3. Yangtze whitebait: Yangtze whitebait has a slender body, slightly cylindrical, with the posterior section relatively laterally compressed. The head is flat and triangular. The mouth is large, and the snout is long and pointed. There is a row of fine teeth on the premaxilla, maxilla, and palate, a pair of canine teeth at the front of the mandible, and a fleshy process at the front end of the lower jaw. It mainly feeds on zooplankton and reaches sexual maturity in half a year.
4. Taihu whitebait: Taihu whitebait includes four varieties: Taihu short-snouted whitebait, oligodont short-snouted whitebait, large whitebait, and Regan's whitebait. The yield of large whitebait and Taihu short-snouted whitebait is the highest. In spring, they spawn on reed and aquatic plant stems along the shores of Taihu Lake, and the spawning period is mainly concentrated from mid-May to mid-to-late June each year, which is also the fishing season for whitebait.