Price of rare fish soars in China as diners want ‘one last taste’ before it’s legally protected

A fish once abundant in the Yangtze River in China but now rare is selling for up to 15,000 yuan (HK$18,000) a kilo, according to a news website report.

Coilia nasus, also known as the Japanese grenadier anchovy, has been known as a delicacy for thousands of years, but in recent decades stocks have plummeted due to pollution and overfishing, Thepaper.cn reported.

Supplies of the fish dropped nearly 80 per cent last year, Shanghai fish merchants were quoted as saying.

A few years ago 1kg of the delicacy would cost several thousand yuan rather than up to 15,000 yuan now, the report said.

The fish used to swim into the Yangtze from the sea in the spring to their lay legs and most ended up on local people’s dinner tables, according to the article.

Rare fish species never before seen in Hong Kong waters are discovered

China’s government plans to protect the fish as an endangered species, starting next year, the report said.