Unique stream fish

Unlike its species that have to live in rivers, lakes, and canals in the plains, the eel chose Cam Mountain, Nui Cam Commune as its settlement. Because of this unique habitat, the eel is also included in the list of famous highland specialties, although its quantity is quite scarce.

Fish like to live in high mountains

Every time I went to Cam Mountain to visit my friends in the “paradise”, I was a bit surprised to hear about the stream fish. Although I am from An Giang and often visit Cam Mountain, hearing about this strange fish still made me feel a little suspicious. In fact, the stream fish is called chanh duc, with an “interface” not much different from the snakehead fish. However, due to its characteristic of living in high mountains, the chanh duc fish still has different characteristics.

Mr. Tran Van Dang, resident of Thien Tue hamlet, Nui Cam commune, said openly: “People from the lowlands who come here, when they hear about the eel, often half believe, half doubt, because they have never heard of it before. For the people of Cam mountain, the eel has appeared in their meals for a long time, like a natural “gift from heaven”. This type is quite small in size, looking exactly like a baby snakehead fish. However, their ventral and dorsal fins have a very special color, usually red, sometimes slightly orange. Because of its beautiful color, some people raise this type of fish as an ornamental fish.”

The eel lives on Cam Mountain.

According to Mr. Dang, the eel fish mainly lives in streams, waterways or bomb craters with water. However, the people of Cam Mountain often call it stream fish for easy identification. When the eel fish lay eggs, the eggs hatch into fish that are then led to feed in groups just like snakehead fish. Seeing this, the people do not rush to catch them but wait for the young fish to grow big enough to find the parent fish to prepare dishes for the family.

“When I first came to live in the mountains more than 20 years ago, there were a lot of eel! If I wanted to eat them, I would just use a lead wire to make a hook, find some worm bait, then go to a stream and sit for a bit and catch 5-7 fish for a meal. At that time, people in the mountains did not care much about eel.

Later, following the popularity of mountain crabs and mountain snails, the snakehead fish also became known. Thanks to the delicious meat of the fish, the mountain people used it to entertain guests from far away, so it gradually became a specialty. And anything called a specialty will have a high price, so people kept fishing for it" - Mr. Dang sincerely said.

According to this local, the eel is quite aggressive. For other fish in rivers and lakes, taking a bait and missing it once is already very scary, absolutely not daring to take the bait a second time. But with the eel, if you just took the bait and it fell back into the stream, if you cast the line again, they will eat it a second time. Therefore, persistent anglers will catch quite a few eel on each trip.

Need to be preserved

Also a person who has settled on the mountain for many years, Mr. Huynh Van Thanh, residing in Vo Dau hamlet, said that because it is the only fish species living on Cam Mountain, the eel has become unique in the eyes of tourists. Many curious people tried to go up Cam Mountain to fish all day, but did not catch any. In fact, catching this fish is not simple, requiring experience and knowing the streams and waterways where they live.

“Mountain people go fishing for eel and sell it to customers at a rather “expensive” price, from 300,000 to 400,000 VND/kg. Because the natural fish source is scarcer than before, it is quite difficult to find the quantity required by customers. Sometimes, they have to go fishing for many days to find enough quantity for customers, so the price is not too expensive,” Thanh shared.

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The meat of the snakehead fish has a distinctive delicious taste. Photo: THANH TIEN

Mr. Thanh also revealed that the eel is very delicious and the way to prepare it is the same as snakehead fish, but its meat is fragrant, chewy and has a distinctive sweet taste. When he wants to treat his friends to a pot of sour soup, he will have to go fishing for 3-4 days to get enough. Therefore, no one introduces this type of fish to tourists like mountain crabs or mountain snails, because the supply is unstable. Moreover, if he keeps trying to catch and sell to customers, soon Cam Mountain will no longer have this type of fish living.

According to the people in the mountains, some farmers in Ta Lot hamlet, Nui Cam commune have successfully domesticated the eel. They have supplied it to the market, with customers mainly being restaurants and tourist groups who want to enjoy the unique flavor of the fish living in the highlands.

The fact that people have successfully domesticated the eel is very appropriate, because the natural fish resources are limited. With the professional sector, there needs to be a direction to support this model, because this is to preserve the local specialty fish, thereby helping tourists to access and enjoy more unique delicacies of the majestic "roof of the West".

THANH TIEN

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/doc-dao-loai-ca-suoi-a425829.html