barbel

barbel

(food materia medica by Yao Kecheng)

[source] it is the meat of Spinibarbus serratus.

[animal morphology] Spinibarbus serratus

Body length and side flat, back slightly raised, all a few long diamond, body length is generally about 40 cm. The head is small, slightly pointed, and the back of the head is curved. The kiss is blunt and slightly forward protruding. The lip is thick, the upper and lower lips are connected at the corner of the mouth, the posterior sulcus is not connected, and the maxilla protrudes. There are 2 pairs, the former is shorter than the latter. The hypopharyngeal teeth are 3 rows, lateral flat, apex slightly curved. The scales are large and the lateral scales are 28-32. The dorsal fins are 3, 8 and 9, starting from the base of the ventral fin, with strong hard spines, rough serrations on the posterior margin, and a supine forward barb in front of the starting point of the dorsal fin. The ventral fin is located before the origin of the dorsal fin. The anal fin is 3, 5, and its end can reach the base of caudal fin. The back is slightly black and the abdomen is white. The scales of most individuals are black at the leading edge. There is a black spot near the base of caudal fin, which is more obvious in young fish. Sometimes the ends of abdominal fin and anal fin are slightly black.

They live in the upper reaches of rivers and inhabit in the gaps between rocks and deep water caves. The food was mainly rotten plant debris and filamentous algae. The spawning period is about April. It is distributed in Yuanjiang River Basin, upper reaches of Xijiang River and Hainan Province.

[sexual taste] sweet, hot and poisonous.

[function indications] it governs the way of invigorating yang, warming the middle and tonifying the senility.