@BigDuck @tyler ni qiu 泥鳅 pond loaches.

rice farmers grow them in paddies to get rid of algae, snails and pests. same as hairy crabs, they are aquaculture goods that guarantee the fields are not visited by (((monsanto))) herbicide/insecticide

they can crawl and survive drought by digging into the mud. they have a slime coating, tastes like mud untreated and being small a hassle to clean. imagine if crawfish had a slimy coating on top of being muddy.

feeding them watermelon before killing them forces them to purge, you dont want their insides to be filled with bacteria when you gut them. the bacteria is 99% of the smell. salt removes their slime membrane at the same time.

when deep fired like that they are just white fish with crumbly bones. pretty tasty but cleaning them well is a chore so most times it either vacuum packed or at a specialty restaurant