The body of the black fish is spotted, the front part is cylindrical, the back part is flattened, the mouth is large, the jaw is slightly protruding, and the head is pointed and flattened, much like a snake's head. Because of his brutal and fierce temperament, he was also called "jackal". It often slaughters underwater, startling the weak to flee for their lives, and sometimes lurks gloomily in the aquatic weeds waiting for an opportunity to pursue. This black creature is so powerful that it is difficult to catch with his bare hands, and his cannonball-like body can easily break through fishing nets, so he has earned the nickname of the black rusher.

The black fish has a strong vitality, even in the muddy small ditch covered with grass, it can live very moist. In winter, after the pond dries up, the black fish and the turtle are crooked into the mud early, and they have to wield a shovel to scratch the mud. Ten and a half days later, the black fish found from the dry and cracked pond slope was still alive. At this point, it can be seen that it is sitting its body in the mud with its tail down, leaving only its mouth exposed.

The lower reaches of the Yangtze River broke into Dawei, and the water receded, leaving endless mudflats as far as the eye could see. I have a cousin who goes out every day with a hemp rope, pulls up his trouser legs, steps on the soft mud, and looks for it as he goes. When you find that the surface of the soft mud is bulging, you know that the mouth of the black fish is on top underneath. Walked over and thrust his hands under the mud, pinched hard, stabbed a sound, and brought out a big black fish. I threaded the gill with hemp rope and dragged it on the mud floor, and after half a day, I could drag back a large string of black fish.

Every spring and summer, the blackfish "flick" in the still water shallows where there are abundant aquatic plants. Men and women are in love with each other, hormones are excited, extremely active, and sometimes they both jump out of the water to perform a romantic affair of chasing the moon with colorful clouds. Then, the fish husband began to build the home diligently, biting off the weeds, floating on the surface of the water, and sweeping out a basin-sized bright water hollow in the middle with his tail, which is called a green nest.

At the quiet sunrise, the fish wife enters the nest to "throw" eggs like butter rapeseed, which is called "yellow nest". The husband and wife both keep the nest for a few days, and the larvae hatch and gather together like a small tadpole, which is called "black nest", also called black fish flowers.

Two big fish do not leave the ground with the group of protection, so that there is no time to eat, legend has it that there are larvae frequently automatically fill in the belly of the big fish, in order to repay the grace of nurturing, so the folk also call the black fish "filial piety fish". It is also for this reason that some monks use large fish tanks to feed black fish in temples. In the cement pool in front of the most lively temple in Jiuhua Mountain, hundreds of black fish are floating densely, which is terrifying to watch.

Fishing talents do not care whether you are "filial piety" or "filial piety", they are using the characteristics of the black fish to protect the nest, and it is easy to pick vegetables in the vegetable garden. It is usually a small live earth frog on a sturdy hook, and it is tapped towards the "nest", and the first person who is angered is the fish husband, but in a moment, it gathers together again, and it turns in a panic to leave the sad place where the father has been lost.

The fisherman repeated his old trick, and again harassed and teased the little earth frog, until there was an uproar, and the fat female fish desperately opened her mouth and pounced, and it was done. There are also people in this season to lift a pole and seven strands of sharp forks, all day long shuttle in those sunny bays and ponds with water and grass, once found the nest, open their eyes and wait patiently, wait for the bottom of the water to have a big black shadow float up, the wrist shakes quickly and throws the fork, rarely misses.

The unfortunate pronged black fish swept its powerful tail in anger, making a splash and making a lot of noise, and usually a frightened waterfowl flew up from the abundant aquatic grass and disappeared into the distance with a short hiccup. And without the protection of their parents, those larvae that scattered their nests immediately became a delicacy chased by many minnows in turn, and the ending was very tragic. But those weak and kind crucian carp, from birth to the end of the whole process of life, will become the object of devouring by others at any time, this is the cruelty of the jungle in the biological world.

Despite its poor appearance, the black fish has only one spine, thick and tender flesh, and can remove rheumatism, diuresis, and saprophylaxis. Shanghainese and Cantonese people are the most superstitious about the tonic effect of black fish, they believe that black fish can live for more than 100 years, it is a long-lived fish, and the body is not perishable after death.

It can be said that the value of the black fish has been raised with the process of reform and opening up and the invasion of Cantonese with the tongue curling into the mainland. Earlier, when the production team divided the fish, the black fish was not very wanted, and it was thought that its meat was coarse. In fact, in my opinion, as an ingredient, black fish has at least two advantages that other fish cannot match: making fish fillets and making sauerkraut fish.

Black fish bones have less flesh and toughness, and are not easy to break up when cutting, which is a good material for stir-frying fish fillets. The black fish is disemboweled, washed, split in the middle to take both sides of the meat, cut into thin slices, mix with salt, sugar, starch, rice wine, monosodium glutamate, and add a few drops of white wine, whether it is stir-fried or boiled soup, it is delicious and abnormal. Some people also cut it into large slices that are two or three minutes thick and make black fish soup. The method is also simple, first blanch the winter bamboo shoot slices in water, take them out and let them cool; put oil in the pot to heat, fry the red and dried chili peppers and green onions, ginger and garlic together to produce the fragrance, put in the fish slices soaked in salt and cooking wine, after stirring thoroughly, add enough water to the winter bamboo shoot slices, shiitake mushrooms, mustard vegetables, add enough water, and cook until the soup is milky white.

Making sauerkraut fish is also not complicated. Sauerkraut is the kind that can be bought at a small shop in the vegetable market for five cents a bag. Remove the fins and tails of the fish, cut off the head, and chop the cheeks open. Cut the fish body into half-inch sections, cut each section from the middle, remove the main bones, put it in a small plate, beat in two egg whites, add salt, cooking wine, sugar, minced ginger, a little soy sauce, stir and soak for half an hour and set aside.

Cut the sauerkraut into sections, first fry the red pepper in the oil pan, then pour the sauerkraut and stir-fry a few times to see that the oil is almost absorbed, pour in the broth and boil. After the soup is boiled, foam, first put in the fish head and fish bones, turn down the heat and cook for three to five minutes, then put in the fish slices, cook on high heat for five or six minutes, add chicken essence and pepper. A plate of sauerkraut fish, and you're done.

A black fish is a black fish, whether it lives in the water or makes ingredients for people, it is so neat, without a little indecision and nesting.