What kind of fish is Mekong fish

Life is better now, and there are usually only one or two children in a family. So parents try their best to make their children eat nutritiously and grow up healthily, so they pay the most attention to their diet. Chicken, duck, fish, and meat are all necessary in daily life. Among them, fish contains high protein and tender meat, and is also very popular among children. It’s just that there are bones in the fish meat, which is very inconvenient to eat. Mekong fish has only big bones and no small bones, so it is especially suitable for children to eat. Let’s learn about what kind of fish Mekong fish is.

Mekongina erythrospila (Fowler, 1937) is a species of fish in the genus Mekongina in the family Cyprinidae. It is a brackish water fish that lives in Southeast Asia. It is also called Mang fish. It is a scaleless fish with an elongated, laterally flattened body and straight dorsal and ventral margins. The head is flat and small. The snout is prominent and slightly pointed. The eyes are small, located on the upper side, with a small spine with a forked base below the anterior line of the eye. The mouth is small, inferior and horseshoe-shaped. There are 5 pairs of whiskers, including 2 pairs of snout whiskers, 1 pair of whiskers at the corners of the mouth, and 2 pairs of chin whiskers. The body is covered with small round scales, the head is scaleless; the lateral line is not obvious, and there are 140-170 vertical rows of scales. It is mainly found at the estuary of the Mekong River in Vietnam. It is a brackish water fish. As a type of fish, Mekong fish has the common nutritional value of all fish, containing animal protein, calcium, phosphorus, and vitamins A, D, B1, B2, etc., which are higher than those in animal meats such as pork and chicken. It is also easily digested and absorbed by the human body, with an absorption rate of up to 96%.

The body is elongated, laterally flattened, with straight dorsal and ventral margins. The head is flat and small. The snout is prominent and slightly pointed. The eyes are small, located on the upper side, with a small spine with a forked base below the anterior line of the eye. The mouth is small, inferior and horseshoe-shaped. There are 5 pairs of whiskers, including 2 pairs of snout whiskers, 1 pair of whiskers at the corners of the mouth, and 2 pairs of chin whiskers. The body is covered with small round scales, the head is scaleless; the lateral line is not obvious, and there are 140-170 vertical rows of scales.

All fins have no hard spines, dorsal fin soft rays 3 (unbranched soft rays) 7 (branched soft rays); anal fin 3 (unbranched soft rays) 5 (branched soft rays); pelvic fin 1 (unbranched soft ray) 6-7 (branched soft rays); caudal fin round. The dorsal side of the body is light brown, the ventral side is light yellow, and there is a slanting black line from under the eye to the upper jaw. The upper part of the body and the back have several distinct longitudinal black patches extending to the base of the caudal peduncle. The caudal fin has 4-5 vertical rows of black markings with a distinct black spot above the base.