Snakehead fish is often eaten after surgery, but wild ones are now nearly extinct

When I was a child in the countryside, especially during summer vacation, I would always gather a group of friends to go swimming in the river. Back then, the water in the river back home was still very clear, and as we swam we could see small fish swimming along with us, which really was a wonderful feeling. When I was little, the river back home not only carried the joys of our childhood, but also gave us plenty of wild river delicacies for people to catch and eat. Today I want to introduce a fish that is quite popular among people; it is the "overlord" of the river, but its taste is extremely delicious.

This fish is the snakehead, also called the black fish, and people in the south generally call it snakehead. The snakehead is a relatively ferocious fish in the water; fish and shrimp are its food, and when it is starving it will even eat its own young. What's more, the snakehead has a huge appetite and can often eat food weighing twice its own body weight. I remember one time when I was little, on the way home after finishing farm work with my father, we saw a fish on the riverbank. Although it had been out of the water for some time, the fish was still alive. My father said this was a snakehead, and that snakeheads have very strong vitality and can survive several days after leaving the water, while ordinary fish cannot survive even half a day out of water.

People began to eat snakehead, at first because there were especially many snakeheads and they were easy to catch, and later people discovered that snakehead also has nourishing effects. In some places, snakehead is called "scar fish," because eating snakehead after surgery can promote wound healing. For some people who are weak or have just had surgery, snakehead is also considered a top-grade nourishing delicacy.

Once people learned about these effects of snakehead, the demand for snakehead naturally became much greater. After wild snakeheads were almost all caught, people began farming snakeheads to meet people's needs. Snakeheads have strong adaptability and grow quickly, so they are very easy to farm, and some farmers made their fortune by farming snakehead.

I really never expected that the snakehead I saw as a child actually had so many amazing effects. Now there are not many wild snakeheads left, and most snakeheads today come from farming. Although the snakehead is ferocious in the water and other fish dare not provoke it, when it meets humans it still cannot escape being caught, since snakehead not only has tender meat but can also help heal wounds, and that is not an effect just any food can achieve.

This kind of "scar fish," can you still see wild ones now?