Yellow Catfish from Zhangdu Lake

Yellow Catfish from Zhangdu Lake

Yellow Catfish from Zhangdu Lake is a protected geographical indication product.

　　Yellow Catfish from Zhangdu Lake is a famous specialty in China and has long enjoyed a high reputation in Hubei Province. It is a product certified by the National Geographical Indication.

　　Zhangdu Lake is located in Xinzhou District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province. The main water area of Zhangdu Lake covers 60,000 mu (approximately 4,000 hectares), featuring excellent water quality and no pollution. Zhangdu Lake is set to become the first wetland forest park in Wuhan. In September 2002, Zhangdu Lake was officially designated as a wetland nature reserve by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). It boasts extremely rich biological resources and serves as a genetic bank for species in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. In 2004, Zhangdu Lake Wetland was established as a municipal-level wetland nature reserve.

　　　Yellow Catfish, commonly known as Yellow Cat or Yellow Eel. Its English name is Yellow Cartfish. It has an elongated body, a flat belly, and a slightly laterally compressed posterior. The head is large and flat, the snout is rounded and blunt, and the mouth is large and inferior, with fine villiform teeth on both the upper and lower jaws. Its eyes are small, and it has four pairs of barbels, most of which have particularly long maxillary barbels. It is scaleless, and both the dorsal and pectoral fins possess well-developed, hard spines that can produce sound when moved. The adipose fin is small, the body color is yellowish-green, and most species have irregular brown spots. The fins are grayish-black tinged with yellow. The flesh is tender, free of small bones, rich in fat, and high in protein content, making it a common edible fish species in China.

　　Value

　　　　The dorsal and pectoral spines of Yellow Catfish contain venom glands, making it one of the more toxic freshwater venomous fish. A sting causes immediate intense burning pain, often leading to lacerations, bleeding, local swelling, and fever. The affected area may experience severe pain for half an hour to an hour before subsiding.

　　Xinzhou District has abundant germplasm resources of Yellow Catfish. In 2002, Xinzhou established the Hubei Provincial (provincial-level) Zhangdu Lake Yellow Catfish Breeding Farm. In February 2009, “Yellow Catfish from Zhangdu Lake” in Xinzhou District obtained the certification of “National Geographical Indication Protected Product.”

　　The geographical indication protection area for Yellow Catfish from Zhangdu Lake includes parts of the current administrative regions of Zhangduhu Farm, Longwangzui Farm, Shuangliu Subdistrict, as well as sections of Wangji Subdistrict, Zhucheng Subdistrict, and Yangluo Subdistrict in Xinzhou District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province. The coordinates span from 114°34′28″ to 114°50′40″ east longitude and from 30°32′25″ to 30°50′15″ north latitude.