As long as our large bogs and marshes were "living", meadowsweet was considered an article of food.
The Fish of the Year was chosen for the 15th time organized by the Hungarian Haltani Társaság. Again, three fish species were included in the tender: the meadow striper, the garda and the flathead bream, of which the former won the vote, the company announced.
Laposkeszeg came third with 21 percent of the 3,875 votes received by 12:00 noon on December 31, 2023, and Garda, a native of Lake Balaton, came second with 30 percent.
and the winner was the meadow strip, obtaining almost half of the votes, 49 percent.
"Meadow striper is a strongly elongated, stout-bodied fish. Its basic color is ocher yellow, its back is dark brown. Its head is decorated with brownish-black spots, and its sides are decorated with longitudinal stripes and spots of the same color.
His eyes are small, his lower mouth is not large either, but there are five pairs of whiskers around him. Its rounded fins are also small, but it is capable of very fast and powerful serpentine movements.
It is characterized by the fact that it lives even in low-oxygen conditions, because its hindgut, rich in blood vessels, can absorb oxygen from the air it swallows.
It can survive in the pits dug by itself even when the water of the swamp disappears and the surface of the soft mud dries to a pot.
"Our forefathers, who were hungry for meat, dug it out of the ground with a spade or a hoe," said the Hungarian Mortuary Society.
As long as our large bogs and marshes "lived", the meadow strip was considered a national food item. It can still be found in many places in muddy riverbeds rich in plants, but its populations are small and endangered, which is why they are protected.
The conservation value of the species is HUF 10,000 per specimen.
MTI
Featured image: moorland (source: Tiit Hunt / Wikipedia)
