BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhuanet) -- A fisherman in China's Zhejiang province has netted a fish that, according to local tradition, may sell for over 1 million yuan (about 140,000 U.S. dollars).
Li Shaoshuang, from Cangnan
county of the coastal province, caught it in his Saturday's first
cast while working offshore nearby the Xiangshan
harbor.
"It is dark brown all
over, 1.2-meter long and 15-kg in weight," said the veteran fisherman Li
who has already frozen the fish. "It's my first time to see this kind
of fish."
A fellow 60-year-old fisherman
who came with others to Li to get a glance of the fish told him in
great surprise that it is Bahaba flavolabiata (Chinese bahaba) which
have disappeared from the site for at least 50 years.
Due to its extreme scarcity, the air
bladder of Chinese bahaba is said to be as expensive as gold in weight.
More than a decade ago, another fisherman of the same county caught a
Chinese bahaba of less than 3.5 kg but fetched for more
than 100,000. Therefore, fishermen on the scene urged Li to ask
for at least 1 million for his.
To make sure it is a sky-high
pricing Chinese bababa, the fishermen sent for an aquatic
research institution expert the next day, who uttered the appearance
should tell it's a Chinese bahaba no doubt, but, still, a dissection
is needed to make sure it is not another species similar to
Chinese bahaba.
Li declined the expert's suggestion
in fear that it would ruin the fish and lower the selling price. He also turned
down a fish vendor's offer of 500,000 for this queer fish, making
it clear he would not let it go for less than 1 million.
In April 2007, a fisherman in
Zhanjiang City, Guangdong province, netted a 49-kg Chinese bahaba and
sold to a restaurant for 580,000 yuan. The restaurant cooked the fish meat
but has kept the dried maw since, tagging it at 2
million yuan with words "not for sale."
