It is commonly known as the "millennium fish," sold in the market at 15 yuan per jin, impossible to fish out or eat out, yet it falls to the ground cage

In the small streams and rivers of the countryside, there are many wild foods, and many people go to these places in their spare time to catch wild foods and bring them home to eat. Among these wild foods, the most abundant are various wild fish, and big fish are generally harder to catch, while small fish come in heaps with a single catch. Everyone loves big fish, because catching them gives a great sense of achievement, while small fish snatch food too aggressively and have little to eat, so many people do not like them. But small fish have one advantage, and that is their tender flesh, best enjoyed deep-fried to go with drinks.

There is a kind of small fish whose scales shimmer and shine, and many people in the countryside like to eat it. This fish is called "youcan tiao," also known as can tiao zi, and it is basically a fish that cannot be eaten out, so its nickname is also the "millennium fish." Because wherever there is water, it exists, and its egg output is extraordinarily high, with a single spawning reaching ten thousand eggs, so its numbers in the wild are very large. The youcan tiao prefers clear waters, but it can also survive in somewhat muddy rivers, mainly living in shallow coastal areas, so it is often caught when fishing.

The youcan tiao is a kind of fish that does not grow large; from birth to death it reaches at most the length of 2 palms, likes to live in groups, and a school of fish swims in formation in the upper layers of the water. Despite its small size, its temper is not small; it not only likes to compete with big fish for meat but is also irascible by nature, and as soon as it leaves the water it dies quickly. Fortunately, its deliciousness is enough to make up for its shortcomings; the youcan tiao has many bones, but its flesh is fragrant, tender, and fine, and the more traditional folk method is to squeeze the internal organs clean and then deep-fry it in oil, crisp and tasty, so that even the bones can be eaten.

In addition, there is drying it into dried fish; this method is relatively more troublesome, because it also has to be cut open and dried, but after drying the flavor is also unique, and the method is also deep-frying, making it a good dish to go with drinks. Nowadays many people in the countryside find fishing for youcan tiao too slow, so they all buy ground cages to catch them; set the ground cage the night before, pull it out the next morning, and you can harvest twenty or thirty jin. This method does catch a very large amount, but it is no different from killing the goose that lays the golden eggs; after catching all sizes, the number of youcan tiao will decrease.

Although the youcan tiao has not yet become extinct, under ground-cage fishing it has already become fewer and fewer, and the market price of one jin of fresh live youcan tiao is above 15 yuan, only available at farmers' markets in the countryside. As the saying goes, a gentleman loves wealth but obtains it in the proper way; only reasonable fishing can promote the sustainable development of the ecological environment.