Bighead carp: The ancients thought I was stupid, so they gave me this name.

[Expert] Bighead carp is an important freshwater fish in my country, a common aquatic product, and a delicacy on the table, such as chopped pepper fish head and white soup fish head, which are very popular. In fact, bighead carp is the same kind of fish, but bighead carp is the scientific name (generally called bighead carp in professional books), while bighead carp, bighead carp and silver carp are just common names.

So, why is bighead carp called bighead carp?

The name of bighead carp existed long ago. For example, Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty said in "Shuowen Jiezi": "Bighead carp is a fish name, composed of the Chinese character "yu" and the Chinese character "yong". For more than 2,000 years, the name of bighead carp has never changed, and it has always been an orthodox fish name, which shows the wonderfulness of fish names and the wisdom of the ancients. According to the ancient Chinese character creation method, the word "bighead carp" is a pictophonetic character, composed of the characters "yu" and "yong". The character "yu" represents fish, the character "yong" is the pronunciation, and the character "yong" has another meaning, that is, meaning, representing a certain characteristic, character or habit of the fish. In other words, the character "yong" is not just used to make up the number.

Yong basically means ordinary, not very good, such as mediocre, mediocre doctor, what is the connection between this and bighead carp? It really is. Bighead carp has a very large head, which is a prominent feature. Its head length accounts for about one-third of its body length (the body length generally does not include the tail length), so people are used to calling it fathead fish or bighead fish. Another feature is that there are many black spots on its body, so some people also call it silver carp or black carp. These two features have nothing to do with the word "yong". What makes bighead carp and the word "yong" linked is its personality. Bighead carp has a gentle temperament and moves slowly, which is exactly the opposite of its silver carp "brother", which is a bit dull and clumsy. Therefore, it is easy to catch and almost catch them all in one net. People who have experience in fish farming have a deeper feeling, so some people figuratively call it a dull fish, which is not an exaggeration at all. This is probably the origin of the name of bighead carp. Among the currently standardized fish names in my country, there are many that are named after their personalities or habits, such as carp and crucian carp. This not only contains the wisdom of the ancients, but also reflects the profoundness of fish culture. It is also helpful for us to understand fish today.

Guests: Chief scientific communication expert of Jiujiang City; Senior aquatic technician of the Yangtze River Four Major Carps Seed Farm in Ruichang, Jiangxi Province ; Wan Zhengyi