Why is the yellow croaker so expensive? Mainly for these reasons
It is understood that during the Dragon Boat Festival, in addition to customs such as wrapping zongzi, racing dragon boats, wearing fragrant sachets, and hanging mugwort and calamus, there is also such a custom in Ningde: before the festival, a son-in-law traditionally gives his parents-in-law yellow croaker. Those with ordinary means give sea-farmed yellow croaker, while those with substantial means give wild yellow croaker, commonly known as "giving fish." However, yesterday on the Dragon Boat Festival, a fisherman's family in Xiabaishi Town, Fu'an City, Fujian Province received a yellow croaker weighing more than 100 jin and worth 3 million yuan, causing a sensation in and around the village. According to people familiar with the matter, the yellow croaker was a Dragon Boat Festival gift from the family's son-in-law.
By this calculation, this yellow croaker is actually worth more than 10,000 yuan per jin! According to fishermen and fish dealers in Huangqi Town, ten or twenty years ago, yellow croaker was already quite expensive and belonged to high-end fish. In the 1990s, one jin of fish rose from several dozen yuan or nearly 100 yuan to several hundred yuan or one or two thousand yuan. Five or six years ago, yellow croaker was about five or six thousand yuan per jin. In recent years, the price has soared, from breaking past 10,000 yuan to breaking past 20,000 yuan, and some even traded at 30,000 yuan per jin. However, the price differences are related to the size and freshness of the fish and cannot be generalized. So why exactly is the yellow croaker so expensive?
The yellow croaker is a fish species unique to China, distributed in the East China Sea and the northern South China Sea. It is a national second-class protected animal, with an elongated body, laterally compressed, and a slender caudal peduncle. Due to its rarity and intensified fishing along the coastal areas, it is currently on the verge of extinction. Before liberation, yellow croaker was often caught along the coast of Zhejiang and regarded as a superior tonic, especially its swim bladder (commonly known as "fish maw"), which was extremely precious and had the saying of being "as expensive as gold." Fish maw has the special effect of nourishing the liver and kidneys, comparable to ginseng, and is very good for stopping bleeding, especially having a curative effect on postpartum hemorrhage in pregnant women. Therefore, in the past, if an ordinary fishing village caught a yellow croaker, the whole village would celebrate and share it. They would also dry and preserve the swim bladder for emergency use when a woman bled during childbirth, which shows a glimpse of the simple folk customs.
Why is the yellow croaker so expensive? According to local fishermen, the swim bladder on the fish is the most valuable, known as "as expensive as gold," and has the effect of strengthening the body and greatly replenishing vital energy.
Fuzhou aquatic product experts say that different parts of the yellow croaker have different values, and the most valuable is its swim bladder. A yellow croaker is generally sold in subdivided parts: fish meat and fish maw. Usually, the fish meat is resold to high-end hotels for diners, at about 2000 to 3000 yuan per jin. The swim bladder and fish head can be used as medicinal materials and, after passing through layers of resale, finally flow to medicinal material merchants and pharmacies. "For the fresh maw of the yellow croaker (note: swim bladder), even the price of gold of the same weight cannot compare," said the aquatic product expert. The yellow croaker is commonly known as golden fish in the Guangdong area, and this is no exaggeration.