China’s Bargain Fish Has More Brain Food Than Salmon

Hairtail—ribbonfish, cutlassfish, 带鱼—looks like a cheap supermarket staple because it is one. The long silvery blade shows up frozen in inland wet markets as often as it does on coastal docks. For many Chinese families it was the first sea fish a child ever ate. That familiarity has kept it underestimated. This “national fish” is one of the better-value proteins on the Chinese table: high protein, unusually high calcium, useful DHA, and almost no fiddly bones.



The shape explains the nickname. Hairtail is flattened and ribbon-like, typically 20–60 cm long and only a couple of centimeters thick, with a dark-blue back and yellow dorsal and anal fins. There is one obvious central bone and almost no fine pins, so it is easier to eat than carp or crucian. It belongs with large yellow croaker, small yellow croaker and squid among the traditional “Four Great Seafoods.” Unlike those croakers, whose wild stocks collapsed and whose farmed replacements now fill banquet platters, hairtail catch has stayed relatively robust. You almost never see it alive. The fish is so sensitive to pressure change that it dies as soon as it is hauled from deep water; commercial live culture is impractical.

That limitation is exactly why it became a national fish rather than a coastal luxury. Frozen hairtail travels. Inland households that keep live grass carp and crucian carp in market tanks still buy frozen hairtail as their reliable marine option.

China’s fish diet splits along that freshwater–marine line. The country is the world’s largest producer and consumer of aquatic food. Freshwater aquaculture supplies most of the volume people actually eat. Five carp species—grass carp, silver carp, bighead carp, common carp and crucian carp—still dominate ponds and reservoirs, together more than 18 million tonnes in recent years. They are cheap, sold live, and cooked whole for New Year because the word for carp echoes “profit.” Tilapia, yellow catfish, snakehead and imported pangasius have grown as still-cheaper alternatives. Mandarin fish remains the premium freshwater choice for steaming.



Marine fish occupy a smaller share of the plate but a larger share of the imagination. Large yellow croaker, once the prestige catch of the East China Sea, is now mostly farmed. Pomfret, Spanish mackerel, sea bass, flounder and grouper fill coastal markets. Imported salmon has become ordinary in cities. Hairtail sits between those worlds: a wild marine species that remains affordable enough to appear next to cabbage and frozen dumplings in a northern winter market.



The nutrition numbers are what make the underestimation interesting. Per 100 g of cut pieces, hairtail offers about 17.6 g of protein—similar to chicken thigh—and only 4.2 g of fat, with 108–127 kcal. Cholesterol is modest at 52 mg, lower than many meats and several common fish. DHA is the surprise. A 2024 study of three hairtail types found 279 mg/100 g in one variety, higher than pollock, grass carp, carp, crucian carp or silver pomfret. A 2020 compilation of Chinese foods reported some samples as high as 1,400 mg/100 g, matching high-DHA Atlantic salmon. Three modest pieces, about 100 g of flesh, can supply a useful daily DHA contribution at a fraction of salmon’s price.

Calcium is even more striking: 431 mg/100 g, roughly four times cow’s milk of the same weight, covering more than half an adult’s 800 mg daily target. Vitamin D at 8.1 µg/100 g helps the body use that calcium. Potassium (361 mg) and selenium (26.6 µg) support blood pressure, thyroid function and antioxidant defense. Sodium is relatively high at 246 mg/100 g, so people watching blood pressure should cook it without extra salt.

The main medical caveat is purine. White hairtail can contain about 292 mg/100 g, high enough that gout patients need care. Boiling for the first 20 minutes leaches purines into the broth; discarding the soup and eating only the flesh cuts intake. Longer freezing also modestly lowers purine. During an acute flare, skip it.

Buying and cooking are straightforward. Choose reputable sellers and reject fish with a rotten smell; a clean sea odor is normal. The silvery surface is not scale but a fatty coating. Scrape it off, and pull away the black membrane lining the belly—both carry most of the fishiness. A 15–30 minute marinade of cooking wine, vinegar or lemon, ginger and scallion finishes the job.

Deep-frying is the popular but worst method: it adds fat and damages DHA and EPA. An air fryer at 190 °C for about 24 minutes keeps more essential amino acids and omega-3s than a wok full of oil. Steaming or boiling remains the best default. Those low-temperature methods preserve nutrients, keep calories down, and further reduce purine—the same logic that makes steamed whole fish with ginger and scallion the default banquet preparation for sea bass or yellow croaker.



Hairtail will not replace grass carp in a Sichuan hot pot or farmed large yellow croaker at a wedding banquet. It does not need to. It occupies the gap those fish leave: a marine species that still reaches ordinary kitchens at ordinary prices, with a bone structure children can manage and a nutrient profile that is better than its reputation. Few bones, high protein, exceptional calcium plus vitamin D, respectable DHA, and a price that still belongs on a weeknight table—that is why the cheap national fish was never only cheap.

ENDNOTES

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https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11312269/ 
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9664060/ 
https://foodwrite.co.uk/what-fish-do-chinese-like-to-eat/ 
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https://travel.ifeng.com/c/81EnlGeIjhC