Rotan fish is useful. Rotan fish photo and description. Taste qualities and interesting facts. What to cook from rotan

It is called a toad, a firebrand, a live-eater, an Amur goby and a grass. In fact, we are talking about a fish from the golovyoshkovy family called rotan. What kind of fish it is, where it is found and how it looks, whether it can be eaten and what cooking recipes exist - all this is really very interesting.

The firebrand-rotan is the only representative of ray-finned fish of the firebrand genus. It is believed that initially this fish was found in the Amur River basin on Far East. She is well known to fishermen. North Korea and China. Today it can be caught in such rivers as:

  • Volga;
  • Danube;
  • Irtysh;
  • Dnieper;
  • Ural;
  • Dniester and others.

A grass or firebrand feels great in shallow ponds and lakes with stagnant water, where others do not survive predatory fish. It spreads during periods of high water, along with birds and with the help of humans.

In large reservoirs, this predator has enemies. Mostly salmon. In conditions natural selection its numbers are small, and the largest rotan rarely reaches a weight of more than 200 grams. Especially a lot of fry are eaten by perch - they simply do not have time to grow.

Some people think that rotan is weed fish. Not at all. This small fish is an active and ferocious predator. Getting into the ponds of fish farms, it causes great harm, eating fry of especially valuable species, and its presence in the basin of the purest Lake Baikal is considered a real biological pollution.

Description and habits

Rotan has a short and dense body. The scales are dull, medium in size. Its color is changeable - from gray-green to dirty brown tones. Small spots and streaks are clearly visible irregular shape, belly greyish. When does it start mating season, the scales become black.

The head of the fish is large, the mouth is large, and, like many predatory fish, it is dotted with sharp teeth. They are small and arranged in several rows, like a piranha. There is a gill spine, like perciformes, but it is soft. The fins do not have spikes. There are two of them on the back - one is longer than the other. The largest - pectoral fins, they are soft, rounded. The tail also has a rounded shape. The appearance of rotan resembles gobies, which is why it is called the Amur goby.

At good conditions habitat, the largest rotan reaches a length of 25 cm. If the conditions are less suitable, then growth does not exceed 14-20 cm. There are also champions, Weight Limit which is 500 grams.

Sexual maturity occurs at about two years of age. For spawning, the firebrand leaves in May-July. Each female lays about a thousand eggs. She clings to plants and various objects that have fallen into the water. This is where her mission ends, the clutch is vigilantly guarded by the male.

A good survival rate of rotan was noted. It tolerates partial drying up of reservoirs, water pollution and freezing to the very bottom.

The menu of this predator includes:

Sometimes he does not disdain carrion. Cannibalism is widespread among golovyoshkovyh. They are happy to eat their own caviar and fry.

In a small reservoir, where there are no other, no less ferocious, predators, rotan fish can a short time destroy all other species, therefore it is considered dangerous. IN major rivers and lakes its numbers are controlled by pike, minnow, catfish and perch.

Amateur fishermen are only interested in large specimens. The firebrand has almost no small bones, it is edible and quite tasty. No special gear is needed when catching rotan. Any rod will do. The bait is practically irrelevant. The fish bites on a worm, pieces of meat or bacon, on bread, bloodworms, mormyshka and baubles. The bait is swallowed greedily and deeply. The main difficulty is take the hook out of the mouth.

Small rotan itself is used as bait when catching larger predators such as pike perch, catfish, pike and perch. Its survivability allows you to repeatedly cast such a bait. “In reserve” the firebrand is kept at home in an ordinary bucket or jar.

Dense and at the same time tender white-pink rotan meat is a real delicacy. You can cook a wide variety of dishes from it - from the most ordinary frying and smoking to gourmet fish with bage sauce.

The fish is cleaned as usual - the insides are taken out, if desired, the fins and gills are removed. Many do not spend time on the gills, but simply throw the head away while eating.

The flour is mixed with salt and pepper, you can add any spices to taste. Each fish is rolled in salted flour and fried over high heat until golden brown.

Crushed garlic, a little salt and water are added to sour cream. The finished fish is poured with this mixture and put on fire. Cover the pan with a lid. After boiling, keep on fire for 1-2 minutes. Served hot and cold.

Such an ear can be cooked from rotan and perch. It is cooked both on the fire and on the stove.. If a lot of small fish fell into the bait, but you don’t want to mess with it, then you can cook a rich soup with a minimum of effort.

Fish for broth is not cleaned of scales. It is thoroughly washed, the gills and entrails are taken out. A portion of the fish is tied in gauze and dipped in boiling water. As soon as the eyes of the firebrand turn white, it is taken out and a new portion is laid. There may be several such "bookmarks".

Potatoes and spices are added to the finished broth: roots, peppers, seasonings. When the potatoes are cooked, several completely peeled large fish, greens and crushed garlic are lowered. After a couple of minutes, the ear is ready. When cooled, it acquires a jelly-like consistency. Especially tasty on the fire!

The small head is washed and cleaned. Heads and large bones are removed, and everything else is twisted into minced meat with the addition of onions, a piece of fresh lard, garlic, salt and ground black pepper. Separately, a piece of bread or a loaf is soaked in milk. Thoroughly knead the minced meat, adding softened bread and an egg to it. He must stand a little. If it appears excess fluid, it is drained.

Cutlets are formed, rolled in breadcrumbs or flour and fried on vegetable oil until golden brown. Served with any side dish.

There are many dishes that can be prepared from rotan. The fish is really delicious. The main thing is that it should be in sufficient quantity. To paraphrase famous saying- what is death for the fry, then the fisherman is joy ...

Rotan- Belongs to the firebrand family. IN European part country this breed came from the Far East from the Amur basin and very quickly took root in many stagnant water bodies where there are no other predators.

Rotan looks like a representative of the goby family. The difference is that it has two ventral fins, while it has only one in gobies.

The color of the goby rotan, depending on the habitat, ranges from gray-green to Brown color. During the mating season, it becomes black.

The size of adults in length reaches 25 cm. The head with a large mouth and sharp teeth in several rows makes up one third of the total body size. In comfortable living conditions, large rotan reaches a weight of up to 800 grams, but such specimens are very rare, its usual weight is 250-300 grams. On average, his life expectancy is 4-5 years, but sometimes he can live 7-8 years.

These representatives of the firebrands reach sexual maturity at the age of 2 years. The female during the spawning period (May-July) lays up to 1000 eggs per various plants and bottom items. After that, the male takes care of the masonry.

Rotan firebrand is a pronounced predator. The fry of this fish after birth feeds on zooplankton, and with age they eat leeches, caviar, fry of fish and amphibians. In conditions of a limited food base, he often eats fry of his own species.

This fish adapts very well to harsh living conditions. Without any problems withstands both the complete freezing of reservoirs in winter time and their partial drying up in summer. In such reservoirs, rotan has no competitors, since more large predators do not survive under such conditions.

There is an opinion that in small reservoirs, rotan completely exterminates other representatives of fish. But time shows that this is not the case. In many small ponds where rotan lives, for more than a dozen years, varieties such as crucian carp and carp feel quite comfortable. The problem of small ponds, where there are a lot of crucian carp, has always been its degeneration. In the absence of predators, there were a lot of fish and there was not enough food for it. Over time, it began to degenerate and become very small. Rotan successfully thinning out the stock of crucian carp, regulates its numbers and stimulates growth. Accordingly, on a good feed base and the rotan itself reaches a fairly decent size, which makes anglers very happy.

In large reservoirs natural enemies pike, zander and especially perch come out. Its number in such conditions is usually very small, and in its size it most often reaches up to 200 grams.

Few anglers have never met rotan at all. Almost everyone saw and caught this medium-sized large-mouthed fish, and if (by some miracle) they didn’t catch it, they certainly heard it. As a rule, you hear about rotan far from the most pleasant words, his voracity is usually emphasized - he allegedly eats everything he sees, including fry and caviar of other fish (however, as well as his fry with caviar, too), which causes considerable harm to the ecosystem of the reservoir. But this quality of it - colossal gluttony, allows you to successfully catch it in almost any weather, and on almost any bait that is suitable in size. This is for fishing, of course, a plus.

That is, if you just want to quickly and simply catch a little (or a lot) of fish, then yes, rotan well suited for such events. But if we talk about sports fishing, when the meaning is not so much in fish as in the very process of fishing, that is, hunting for fish, then rotan is not very interesting object- not shy, not fastidious, eats everything. Fish is only for children or lazy people who are too lazy to bother with fishing tactics and bait.

Catching rotan

But what if you try to develop more laziness, and don’t stock up on bait at all, don’t dig worms, don’t get or buy bloodworms, but replace live bait with artificial one?

When spinning baits act as bait for rotan, this is of course somewhat strange, it seems that with the same success you can try to catch a bleak or minnow on a spinning rod, that is, a task from the category "If you suffer for a long time ...". But, nevertheless, rotan willingly takes on spinning. Both simple and uninteresting, it would seem, catching rotan suddenly becomes sporty, sophisticated and, of course, more exciting.

Of all the variety of spinning lures generously thrown onto the market by many manufacturers, rubber lures are best suited for catching bigmouth. All kinds of twisters, silicone worms or rubber bloodworms, all this perfectly attracts rotan, but catching rotan on spinning becomes more effective if the so-called "edible rubber" is used, because rotan in hunting, more than most other fish, relies on taste buds.

Catching rotan with silicone lures

Of course, it is worth choosing a bait based on the size of the intended prey, that is, it makes no sense to put pike twisters here, because they often exceed the size of many rotans. Best of all in our case would be microjig. Silicones can simply be hooked without a load, or loaded with a small pellet. Fishing is mainly carried out in windows, among aquatic vegetation and resembles vertical winter lure, that is, they lowered the bait into the hole, chatted for 10-15 seconds, and if there is no bite, then we go to the next place. In such places, a short and plump silicone worm works well - if it is not loaded, it slowly sinks and moves seductively, attracting the attention of the fish. In addition to fishing in coastal windows, you can also fish in windows further away, which is even more interesting, because you need to throw a bait with not the best flight characteristics into a plate-sized window. After casting, we let the bait sink, sometimes during the dive it is worth twitching the tip of the rod, somewhat reviving the bait. If the size of the window allows, then the bait, after diving, can be raised to the surface again and lowered again, but usually rattan, if any, bites immediately. After that, we pull the bait out of the grass, and throw it into a new window.

I recommend casting the bait moving away from the shore. That is, first the near glades, then the far ones, because on the way back, when the bait is often dragged right through the bushes, the fish get scared, and by catching from the near "hole" to the far ones, this can be avoided, that is, the bait will be dragged where you are already caught, and not where you are going.

Sometimes rotan is also caught in "deserts", that is, in completely clean, shallow places, which are often visible to the very bottom. If you do not see rotan in such places, this does not mean at all that it is not there. It is worth throwing a worm there, at least alive, at least rubber, and you can notice how a shadow casts on it, or vice versa, something bright. This is the back, or the belly of the rotan - the mimicry of this fish is surprisingly well developed, and, merging with the background, it becomes almost invisible. In such open places 3-5 centimeter, slowly pop-up, minnow wobblers are well suited for fishing. Although the rotan does not take them so confidently: you can often see how the rotan, following the wobbler, suddenly stops a few centimeters from it, as if thinking. If at such a moment you pull the wobbler, then the rotan can simply wash off, but if you give the wobbler a few more seconds to hang out without moving, then the rotan will most often take it, even though the wobbler hangs motionless like a knot - it just remembers that not so long ago it something showed signs of life and decides to taste it just in case. Spinners (both spinners and spoons) for catching rotan are not the best solution, that is, of course, you can catch them, but I have never caught a single rotan on a lure.

It will probably be funny to talk about playing rotan. Rotans rarely reach at least 200-300 grams of weight, although there are rumors about almost kilogram rotans (and often even more), however, except for stories around the fire, such specimens are hardly found anywhere. Such a trifle can be dragged as you like - rotan rarely breaks. His mouth is huge, allowing you to securely capture the bait, the greed of the rotan also plays a significant role in this, and strong lips allow you not to be afraid that the fish will break.

Tackle for catching rotan

Almost any rod can be used for catching rotans. I have this 2.9 meter ultralight spinning rod. It can be shorter, or longer, but with a shorter one, it is more difficult to catch coastal windows, and with the fact that it is more authentic, it is not so easy to get into small clearings. So 3 meters is the golden mean. Any ultralight reel is suitable for such fishing, and instead of fishing line it is better to put a braided cord, because, despite the small size of the rotan, strength is still needed, since you often have to drag heaps of underwater grass on the bait.

In general, catching rotan on spinning is a rather exciting task - the fishing itself is active and not boring, you don’t have to wave spinning for half a day for the sake of a single bite, but as they say in the absence of fish ... and rotan a fish.

How to cook rotan

As with any fish from rotan, you can cook a lot of different dishes. Starting from regular fried or dried fish ending with more complex dishes such as meatballs or bage.

Many have the opinion that this fish is weedy and therefore not tasty. I would like to remind you that rotan is a predator and has nothing to do with weed varieties. Skillfully cooked rotan can compete in taste with the most exquisite dishes.

Rattan cutlets

To prepare minced meat you will need:

1 kg of gutted fish (head and fins removed);

2 onions;

2 hard-boiled eggs.

Pass all this 2 times through a meat grinder, then add one raw egg and 2 tablespoons of semolina. Salt and spices to taste.

Blinded cutlets are best rolled in cornmeal and fried on sunflower oil.

Cutlets can be consumed immediately after frying, but it is better to prepare a separate sauce and stew them in it for about 15 minutes.

2 fried onions;

6 tablespoons of tomato paste;

1 glass of water;

1 teaspoon of sugar.

Salt and spices to taste.

The dish is very tasty and original.

Stewed rotan

To prepare this simple dish, you need to gut the carcasses. Separate the heads from them and, in a deep frying pan, shift them with layers of carrots, tomatoes and onions. Add bay leaf, salt and spices to taste. Simmer everything until the bones soften.

The dish is easy to prepare and the taste is incomparable.

Bage

To prepare this original dish it is necessary to use rotans of large sizes.

Cut 600 grams of rotan fillet into pieces and fry in sunflower oil, after rolling them in breadcrumbs. The finished product is laid out on a plate and poured with sauce. The dish is ready.

3-4 cloves of garlic;

150 gr walnuts;

2 tablespoons of wine vinegar;

Greens and spices to taste.

Nuts and garlic are passed through a meat grinder, bred boiled water and vinegar, herbs and spices are added to them.

In general, a lot of different dishes can be prepared from this product. The only limitation is its size. Therefore, not many people want to cook some complex dishes from small fish. Therefore, the most popular are dried and stewed rotan, but their taste is incomparable.

Catching rotan on spinning, video

Rotan photo

Hello dear readers! Today I will share with you information about a fish called Rotan. But first, I will tell you about myself and the area where I live. All this is connected with this fish.

I live in the Altai Territory, Zonal District, the village of Bulanikha. Our lake is also called Bulanikha. Behind our garden near the house there are many small lakes, which all then adjoin the main one. I love fishing very much. In the summer, with the boys and my brother behind the garden, on the lakes, we disappeared for days on end.

Rotan fish. Description

Far Eastern fishermen learned about interesting fish, which was immediately given a local “nickname” - the Amur goby. This fish is of sincere interest, if only because it loves to eat its own kind and is generally a predator, despite its small size.

Later, it appeared in many reservoirs throughout Russia, and now the population of this species is growing rapidly. But is there any benefit to this process? And in general, what does this waterfowl look like and what is so remarkable about it for anglers?

What kind of fish is Rotan and its homeland

The first fish were observed by the Chinese, Koreans and Russians living in the Far East. She preferred to swim in cold rivers and reservoirs, so she mostly appeared in the northeastern regions. In appearance fish can be noted several main features by which it can be recognized:

  • Small size: 25 cm is just a record for the length of Rotana, and even then, this is rare. More often you can observe individuals with a size of 10-14 cm.
  • She bites. It cannot be compared with a chain dog, and it does not pull on a piranha, but it has a number of small and sharp teeth (with which it likes to absorb its own kind, but more on that later).
  • The fish has a "dirty" color that varies from brown to gray-green.

Once again, it doesn’t make much sense to go into the details of the structure of the gills and the length of the scales, almost every angler has caught such a beauty at least once, just not everyone knows her name. So now be aware if such a fish falls on your hook - this is Rotan.

Here in this part you can learn more about the negative and positive, as well as a little strange qualities of this fish.

Let's start with the cons:

Rotan is practically a mass exterminator, a completely “asocial” fish. Hannibal Lector would love to have these fish in his aquarium, because they love to feast on smaller individuals of their kind.

And not only his own. In reservoirs where the Amur goby appears, the rest of the fish often disappears without a trace. Without any pity, these fish eat valuable fry breeds of their own kind. The “gobies” themselves, in turn, become a snack for perches, catfish and pikes.

Still, it's more of a weed look. But the question on this topic is still controversial.

Due to the lack of compassion for small fish in Rotan, only large individuals remain in the reservoirs where they live. So with the advent of this species, fishermen can boast of a more successful catch.

Interestingly, the fish is completely unpretentious and can live even in very polluted water. Moreover, Rotan fish can literally resurrect - that is, come to life even after a frozen state. So this perch-like no cold water not terrible.

Facts from Wikipedia

If you want to catch Rotana in the summer? Then dig earthworm! This is the best bait for hunting this fish. And in winter, we are now catching on the lungs and liver of any animal. The bite is great too.

The Hannibal fish lives no more than seven years, but reproduces quickly enough. Stepping over the threshold of two years of age, she lays up to a thousand eggs.

Adult individuals also like to feast on the cubs of other waterfowl, that is, eggs. Basically, living with Rotan in the same reservoir, leeches, fry and tadpoles risk their “children”.

This fish has spread to all the cold corners of Russia since it was released into the reservoir of St. Petersburg. This happened in 1916 and now it can be found in almost all major river basins.

The fact that the fish got into Lake Baikal in the 20th century is considered by most scientists to be pollution.

As a result, we can say that Rotan is far from the most useful fish population. Despite the fact that where they live, the number of small species is markedly reduced (or completely absent), useful fry often suffer. And without them, the number big fish also starts to decrease. In reservoirs where only the Amur goby lives, in fact there is nothing to catch - the fish itself is not special nutritional value and tastes most like an ordinary perch.

Watch the following video, how we catch Rotana fish in winter. Of course, the video is taken from the Internet, but we catch Rotan exactly as shown in this video:

Next time we will talk about where and how to catch Rotan in winter and what is needed for this.

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Calories, kcal:

Proteins, g:

Carbohydrates, g:

Rotan fish, which has the second name firebrand rotan, is a predatory fish and belongs to the family Goloveshkov. This fish is known for its voracity and special ability to disguise itself as a color. environment(calorizer). Consequently, the color of the fish primarily depends on the tone of the water and the bottom and can be slightly green or almost black, as well as brown, gray and even yellow. Rotan is a small fish, the maximum body length reaches 25 centimeters, with a weight of about 500 grams.

Initially, rotan lived in the Amur River, in the Russian Far East, in the northern part of North Korea and northeastern China. In the 20th century, fish appeared in the Baikal basin, and it was also released into the reservoirs of St. Petersburg, which led to the spread of rotan in most regions of Europe and Russia.

There are three main types of rotan fish, but only one is found on the territory of Russia - a firebrand, which has a large head and dark color body. Few people know about such fish as rotan, so the fish caught by the fisherman in the next region receives a new, newly invented “name”. On the this moment known the following types rotan: goby, wrasse, grass, blacksmith, firebrand, live-eater, gorlach, round timber and others.

Calorie content of rotan

The calorie content of rotan is low, it is only 88 kcal per 100 grams of product.

The composition and useful properties of rotan

Rotan, like any other fish, is recommended for dietary nutrition, as it is easily digested and absorbed by the human body. Fish meat is rich in low-calorie and easily digestible proteins, vitamins, which have a positive effect on the immune system and human health. The meat of rotan also contains the following valuable trace elements.

: Invalid call: invalid keys, for example, too many keys were specified or the key was incorrect , or grass(lat. Perccottus glenii) - a species of ray-finned fish from the firebrand family, the only representative of the genus firebrands (Perccottus).

Erroneous Latin specific names in the literature (orth. var.): glehni, glenhi. The erroneous genus name is also used percottus.

In the second half of the 20th century, among aquarists, rotan was often called Amur goby.

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Description

The body is dense, short, covered with dull scales of medium size. The coloration is changeable, gray-green and dirty brown tones prevail, with small spots and irregularly shaped stripes. The color of the belly is usually grayish. During the mating season, rotan becomes black. The head is large, the large mouth is seated with small sharp teeth in several rows. The gill covers have a backward-pointing spine characteristic of perciformes, but in rotan it is soft. The fins are soft, without sharp spines. There are two dorsal fins, of which the back is longer. The anal fin is short. The pectoral fins are large and rounded. The caudal fin is rounded. In general, rotan resembles representatives of goby fish. A characteristic difference are ventral fins: in rotan they are paired, close to the head and disproportionately small, while in gobies the ventral fins grow together into one and resemble a sucker.

In length, rotan can reach 14-25 cm, depending on habitat conditions, however, fish of record sizes are not common. Life expectancy - up to 7 years, usually 4-5 years.

Sexual maturity occurs at the age of two. Spawning occurs in May-July. Fertility is about 1 thousand eggs. Rotan lays eggs on plants and on various objects, after which the male guards the masonry. Feels best in stagnant reservoirs with well-developed higher aquatic vegetation.

Rotan withstands partial drying of the reservoir and complete freezing to the bottom in winter. Survives in polluted waters.

Rotan is a predator. Initially, the fry feed on zooplankton, then on small invertebrates, benthos.

Adult rotans eat small fish, leeches, newts, larvae of amphibians (tadpoles). Rotans do not eat caviar and carrion!

In rotan, cannibalism is widespread - eating smaller individuals of its own species. During fishing rotan often deeply swallows the bait.

In a small reservoir, rotan becomes numerous and is able to completely exterminate representatives of other fish species.

In large reservoirs, the number of rotan is regulated by other predatory fish: pike, catfish, and especially perch. At home in the Far East, if minnows start up in a lake or in a pond, where only rotans previously lived, they will regulate the number of rotans, actively eating their juveniles.

Rotan is unable to survive being completely frozen; however, when the water body freezes, glycerol and glucose released inside the fish bind free water, thereby increasing the specific concentration of salt in the tissues and surrounding water, which significantly lowers the crystallization temperature. After thawing of the reservoir, the rotan returns to normal life.

area

The original range of rotan is the Amur River basin, the Far East of Russia, the north of North Korea and the northeast of China.

The entry of rotan in the 20th century into the basin of Lake Baikal is considered by many scientists as biological pollution.

In 1916, rotan was released into the reservoirs of St. Petersburg. Subsequently, it spread throughout Northern Eurasia, in most of Russia and many European countries.

At present, rotan is noted in river basins