China's garbage fish that lives on feces: overrunning rivers with nobody wanting them, yet a top-tier delicacy abroad

With the progress of today's era, life has become more and more convenient, whether it's traveling, shopping, or eating, it's all the same, and you can even buy foreign goods without leaving home. Many foreign things, after entering China, are very popular, such as Apple phones, imported milk powder, and so on.

However, some things, after entering China, are not popular. Take food for example, there are great differences in diet between China and abroad. Some things that are regarded as monsters in foreign countries become foods that everyone loves after entering China, such as crayfish. Some are top-tier delicacies abroad but become garbage after entering China. Below, the author will tell you about one such fish, and that is exactly the case with it.

This fish is native to South America, and its skin surface is very hard. Its scientific name is "armored catfish", and it is a very common food fish in Brazil and other American countries. Armored catfish are often seen for sale at local fish stalls in markets, because they have few bones, which suits foreign tastes very well. But after entering China, its status plummeted, and everyone hates it on sight. In China, it has a resounding name: cleaner fish. When people mention cleaner fish, many associate it with dirty things, sewers, manure pits, and so on, because in these places, apart from Egyptian catfish, cleaner fish are the most common.

It is precisely because the cleaner fish has too strong adaptability and has no natural enemies in China that it overruns ponds, ditches, and sewers in the south. Even some anglers, when they see cleaner fish appear in a certain body of water, show disgust and will no longer fish there. In fact, the cleaner fish is not entirely useless. The reason it is called this name is that it has the effect of purifying water quality. If you keep a cleaner fish in a fish tank, it will eat the feces and leftover bait of other fish in the tank, and the inner side of the fish tank glass will also be cleaned very thoroughly by its sucker mouth. Its role is still quite significant.

Why do people in South America eat cleaner fish, while people in China do not? This has a lot to do with the environment they live in. First, South America has its natural enemies, which suppresses the number of cleaner fish and prevents them from overrunning. Second, cleaner fish in South America grow up in clean rivers, unlike in China, where most survive in places flowing with sewage. Although China has many food lovers, their mouths are very picky. This kind of garbage fish that lives on feces is basically something nobody would eat.

At present, China also has farmed cleaner fish. Of course, the variety is an optimized ornamental variety, and whether in appearance or habits, it is much prettier than the common black cleaner fish in the wild. But remember not to release them casually, because cleaner fish not only have no natural enemies, but are also very destructive. They will damage river embankments and farmland, and are an invasive species that damages the environment.