Four-Spined Perch of Songjiang

Four-Spined Perch of Songjiang

　　Four-Spined Perch of Songjiang “The west wind brings the four-spined perch ashore, its flesh as tender and flaky as silk.” The four-spined perch described by Southern Song poet Fan Chengda comes from the Songjiang River, a tributary of the Huangpu River. Though small in size and with limited yield, the Songjiang perch enjoys great fame mainly because of its delicate, plump, snow-white flesh free of fine bones, and its extraordinarily delicious taste. For over a thousand years, numerous literati and poets have praised it. During the Jin Dynasty, the literary figure Zhang Han, while serving as an official away from home, was moved by the autumn wind to miss his hometown so deeply that he resigned from his post and returned home, choosing not to serve again. The great Southern Song poet Xin Qiji wrote: “Don’t talk about how good perch is for slicing—despite the west wind, has Jiying come back yet?” Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty made two southern tours and went out of his way to Songjiang Prefecture both times just to eat the four-spined perch. He spoke very highly of it and ordered that it be offered to the imperial court every year.　

　　 This fish is not large, spindle-shaped, about twelve centimeters long and weighing no more than two or three taels. It has a large, flat head, small eyes positioned on top, a wide fan-shaped mouth, and no scales. Its back is yellowish-brown, and its belly is grayish-white, adorned with four or five black stripes. Uniquely, after being caught, water remains in the gill chambers of the Songjiang perch, allowing it to live for four or five days if placed in rice bran. Because this fish has a slight indentation before and after each gill, which resembles gill openings in shape and color, and also features an orange-red stripe on the gill cover, it looks very much like it has four external gill leaves. As a result, people in ancient times believed the Songjiang perch had four gills.

　　 Its characteristics: The flesh of the Songjiang perch is tender, rich, fresh, and completely free of fishy taste. It is one of the most delicious wild fish and is counted among China’s Four Famous Fish.