Living in an inland city, one has access to very few seafood products. Apart from kelp, hairtail is probably the only thing that the common people love the most. In my impression, there are large gatherings in rural areas every year during the twelfth lunar month. , you can always see whole boxes of hairtails for sale, some are long or short, some are thick and some are thin. Under the sunlight, the hairtails sparkle with phosphorescence. They usually only cost a few yuan per pound. It is acceptable to ordinary people. It is the most classic way. It is deep-fried, and the thick batter is wrapped in the tender fish meat. Every bite is delicious and fragrant. But occasionally, I can always eat the bones in the hairtail fish, one by one, like teeth. I asked I found other people, but the result was the same. What on earth is going on?

Hairtail belongs to the family of bony fishes, order Perciformes, and is also called skirt band, fat band, oil band, toothed hairtail, etc. It is fast and vigorous in nature and usually active, which contributes to the delicious taste of its meat. Eating this made me sick. Could it be that these tiny pieces were the chef’s teeth? It sounds a bit funny, but no one can give me the answer. Although I still follow it, this mystery has been with me for 20 years. It was not until today that I found out the answer.

This kind of hard particles are actually produced after bone lesions occur on the vertebrae. They are also called bone hyperplasia. Similar to humans, they are also called joints and osteomas. They usually grow on the vertebrae of hairtail fish. , on the fish bones of the inner fin.

The appearance of joints is related to the water environment, feeding classification, growth habits, etc. Generally speaking, hairtails will grow joints only when the living environment is conducive to the absorption of calcium. Of course, this is also a natural Phenomenon, everyone can safely eat hairtail fish with joints. It does not cause any harm to the body, but the meat is not as delicious as it is.

Hairtails are widely distributed, mainly in the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans. They can be found in all coastal provinces of China. The hairtails we often eat can be divided into two categories: southern and northern. The northern hairtails are larger and can be found in the Yellow Sea. They overwinter in the south and swim to the Bohai Sea in spring. The southern hairtails are smaller and move north-south along the western edge of the East China Sea every year. They migrate north for reproductive migration in spring and migrate south for overwintering in winter. Hairtails with bone tumors are generally It is caught in some tropical and subtropical waters. Because of the different water quality, this fish looks very big and not expensive, but it is really not delicious.

Hairtail caught in waters such as the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea generally do not have bone tumors.

The most delicious hairtail is Zhoushan, Zhejiang, followed by Qingdao, third Dalian, fourth Zhanjiang, and fifth Beihai. Everyone should understand that you get what you pay for. It is foreign and mostly found in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Africa and other places. The bigger the hairtail, the greater the possibility of hairtail joints.

How to choose hairtail

You can choose domestic hairtail with a higher price. When choosing hairtail, look for hairtail with a small head, dark eyes and no leaky teeth. Of course, freshness is also important. The key points to consider are the "small eyes" of Zhoushan hairtail (East China Sea hairtail) and the "big eyes" of Hainan hairtail.

1. Look at the fish maw to see if it is complete and whether it has become soft or damaged. Damaged hairtail may have deteriorated before freezing. Try to keep the hairtail fish weighing less than 0.5 kg each and the flesh of the large fish should be loose. Scattered, like tofu dregs.

2. Look at the eyes. If the hairtail fish’s eyeballs are bulging, black and white are distinct, clean and free of dirt, it is good. If the eyeballs are sunken and there is a layer of white clouds, it is bad. Secondly, pay attention to the eyeballs. The bigger the eyes, the less likely they are. Good, especially the hairtail fish with yellow eyes, the taste is average.

3. Look at the fish scales to see if the silver-white "scales" are evenly distributed and whether they have fallen off. This layer of silver-white scales has high nutritional value.

4. Look at the price. You get what you pay for. Don’t buy anything that is too cheap. It is either old or imported hairtail, which has a poor taste. Domestic hairtail should be preferred.