Mackerel

Mackerel

(notes to the classic of Materia Medica)

[synonyms] wax fish, crayfish (Nanyue annals), sand fish, mullet (materia medica), Liuyu (compendium), shark (yilinzuoyao).

[source] it is the meat of starfish or other sharks.

[animal form] white spotted star shark

Body slender, about 60 cm long; front slightly thick, back tapering, ventral flat. The head is wide. The kiss is a little thicker. The front end is blunt. Lateral position, oblong. It is medium in size and the skirt is flat and exposed horizontally. The nostril is located in 1 / 3 of the mouth to the snout, with 3 lobes of nasal valve. The mouth is triangular, far from the snout, with lip fold. The upper lip fold is wide, flat and long, and the lower lip skirt is narrow and short. The teeth are small, multiline, and arranged in the shape of paving stones. There are 6 branchial foramen, and the last two are located above the pectoral fin. The scales are small. The second dorsal fin is smaller than the first dorsal fin, and the pectoral fin starts below the 5th branchial foramen, with straight or slightly concave posterior margin. The ventral fin is located below the anterior half of the dorsal fin septum, with a sharp internal angle and straight posterior margin. The upper lobe of caudal fin is straight and slightly narrow, and the front end of lower lobe is wide. The back and upper sides are grayish brown. There are many irregular white spots along and above the lateral line. The lower side and abdomen are silvery white.

It lives near the sea. It feeds on mollusks, shrimps, crabs and other fish. The eggs are viviparous. It is distributed in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea.

There are many kinds of sharks. The common ones in China's coastal areas are tigriformidae (South China Sea and South East China Sea), bighead shark (East China Sea and Yellow Sea) and basking shark (both in China's coastal areas).

The skin (mackerel skin), fin (mackerel wing), gall (mackerel gall) and swim bladder (mackerel shark white) of this kind of animals are also used for medicine. See special regulations for details.

[flavor] sweet and salty, flat.

① "Dietotherapy Materia Medica": "Ping. "

② "Rihuazi Materia Medica": "flat, slightly toxic. "

③ "Gangmu": "Gan, Ping, non-toxic. "

④ Yilin zuanyao: "sour, salty, flat. "

[Guijing] 1. In Ben Cao Qiu Zhen: "entering the spleen. "

② Summary of materia medica: "start with Dayin meridian. "

[functions and indications] 1. Food therapy materia medica: "tonifying the five zang organs. "

② Yilin zuanyao: "detumescence and stasis removal. "