Protonibea diacanthus

Protonibea diacanthus, commonly known as the blackspotted croaker, is a species of fish native to the Indo-Pacific region.[1] This fish is considered amongst the most-expensive variety of marine fish. Its heart is known as the 'Sea Gold', which is said to have medicinal properties and is an important ingredient in making a variety of medicines.

Protonibea diacanthus
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Actinopterygii
Order:
Perciformes
Family:
Sciaenidae
Genus:
Protonibea
Species:
P. diacanthus
Binomial name
Protonibea diacanthus
(Lacepède, 1802)

Commercial importance

The fish is considered a delicacy, it is prized in East Asia for the medicinal properties of its internal organs. The highest grade fish are procured by countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Japan.

The most expensive known catch of a blackspotted croaker was made by two Indian fishermen near the Mumbai-Palghar coastline; the fish weighing 30 kg.[2]

Local name of these fish is ghol fish and their value depends on gender, a 30 kg male fish can be 4-5 lakh and a female one 1-2 lakh. The value varies according to size and thickness of the fishes internal organs (called bhot). In satpati Mumbai, the price of bhot is around 5-6 lakh/kg and meat 500-600 Rs/kg.

This fish is known locally as Telia in Odia, and in 2020, fishermen from Odisha caught one weighing around 19.5 kg. A pharmaceutical company purchased it ₹8000 per kg in an auction. Similarly in 2019, another fishermen from Odisha caught a 10 kg fish and was sold ₹10,000 per kg.

References
  1. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2015). "Protonibea diacanthus" in FishBase. 2 2015 version.
  2. "Mumbai Fishermen Strike 'Ghol', Sell a Fish for Rs 5.5 Lakh", CNN-News18, 7 August 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2019


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.