Zijiang Fish

Zijiang Fish

　　Also known as "tribute fish" or "plum fish."

This small fish is about 1.5 centimeters in length, with a large head and yellow patterns on its body. It can be eaten fresh and has a delicious taste. When dried into lightly salted fish and cooked with eggs, the flavor becomes even better. The method involves beating the eggs into a liquid, mixing in a small amount of Zijiang fish, stirring well, and then steaming. After steaming, the tiny fish float one by one in the egg mixture, upright with heads up and tails down, standing gracefully without tipping over or sinking. Zijiang fish often swim in schools on the water surface, mostly appearing during the plum rain season, hence the name "plum fish."

During the spring flood season in the first half of the year, when river levels rise sharply, the plum fish swim upstream with the rising waters. "Even when encountering dense barriers (a type of fishing tool), they still swim forward bravely without retreating." Therefore, fishermen can easily catch them. The fish are as small as "thousand-year-olds" and cannot be caught with nets. Fishing must be done at the right time, as "they disappear after just a few days, and no one knows where they go." In the Zijiang River, only the area from Bijin Ferry to Guitai Mountain has "plum fish," which are not easy to catch. "Only Quanjiaohe yields several hundred pounds each year, and even that is hard to come by." In the late Qing Dynasty, this fish was specially prepared as a delicacy for the emperor’s meals, hence it was also called "tribute fish." Xu Luoshan, a local poet, wrote a poem about the "Zijiang fish": "With the new tide comes vitality, the plum rain clears after rain. Beyond the river perch and river carp, though small, it is also well-known."