CATDOLL : CATDOLL: Are eels and loaches the same animal?

Loach belongs to the Cypriniformes, Cobitidae, Cynomorinae, Loach genus. English name: Oriental weatherfish.

The body is slender, slightly rounded at the front and flattened at the back. The snout is prominent, the eyes are small; the mouth is small, located below, and horseshoe-shaped. The lips are soft and well-developed, with fine wrinkles and small protrusions. The head has no fine scales; the body scales are very small; the body surface is rich in mucus. The dorsal fin has no hard spines, and the starting point is slightly above and in front of the starting point of the pelvic fin; the caudal fin is round, and there are narrow and flat skin folds above and below the caudal peduncle. The body is gray-black, with many small black spots, and the body color often varies depending on the living environment.

Loaches like to live at the bottom of still water, often appearing in the muddy surface rich in plant debris at the bottom of lakes, ponds, ditches and paddy fields, and have strong adaptability to the environment. Loaches can not only breathe with gills and skin, but also have special intestinal breathing functions; when the weather is hot and humus or other substances at the bottom of the pond rot, causing severe hypoxia, loaches can also jump out of the water, or rise vertically to the water surface, swallow air directly with their mouths, and breathe with the assistance of the intestinal wall. When they turn their heads and slowly dive, the exhaust gas is discharged from the anus. At this time, loaches in the entire water body rise to the surface of the water to inhale air, one after another, so Western Europeans call it "climate fish". In the cold winter, when the water body dries up, loaches drill into the mud, relying on a small amount of water to prevent their skin from drying out, and rely entirely on intestinal breathing to maintain their lives. When the water rises the following year, they go out again. Since loaches can tolerate low dissolved oxygen much better than other fish, they can survive longer out of water. In a dry bucket, 4-5 cm long loach fry can survive for 1 hour, while 12 cm long adult fish can survive for 6 hours, and they can still move normally when put back into the water. Loaches come out at night to prey on plankton, aquatic insects, crustaceans, aquatic higher plant debris, algae, etc., and sometimes also ingest humus or mud residue at the bottom of the water. Loaches mature in the second winter and begin to reproduce in April every year (water temperature 18℃). They lay eggs in shallow water grass with a depth of less than 30 cm. The eggs are attached to water grass or submerged dry grass. The hatched fry often live in a scattered manner and do not form groups.

Except for the western plateau areas, this fish grows everywhere in my country from south to north.

Although loach is small, it is widely distributed and can be found in any waters and can be caught all year round. It has strong vitality, rich resources, and is also a nutritious small aquatic product. Loach meat is tender and delicious. The protein content of every 100 grams of edible part is as high as 18.4-22.6 grams, which is higher than that of ordinary fish; it also contains 2.8-2.9 grams of fat, 100-117 kcal of calories, 51-459 mg of calcium, 154-243 mg of phosphorus, 2.7-3.0 mg of iron, as well as vitamins B1, B2 and niacin. Eating more loach can cure diseases. Loach is sweet and flat in nature. "Introduction to Medicine" says that it can "tonify the middle and stop diarrhea". "Compendium of Materia Medica" records that loach has the effect of warming the middle and replenishing qi; it has certain medicinal effects on quenching thirst, sobering up, promoting urination, strengthening yang, and astringing hemorrhoids. It has good therapeutic effects on hepatitis, night sweats in children, hemorrhoids, skin itching, bruises, finger furuncles, impotence, ascites, mastitis, etc.

Eel (Monopterus albus) belongs to the order Synbranchidae, family Synbranchidae, genus Monopterus. It is also called ricefield eel, W fish, Luo eel, snake fish, and its English name is Ricefield eel.

Any of about 15 species of elongated, eel-like fishes of the order Synbranchiformes. Not related to the true Anguilliformes, but closely related to the order Perciformes. Found in tropical freshwater or brackish waters. About 20.70 cm (8.28 in) long, scaleless or with very small scales, with dorsal and anal fins very low and continuous around the tail, and gills usually with only one external gill opening in the throat. Some species have very small gills themselves, and breathe by oxygen drawn in through the mucous membranes of the throat or intestines. Valued food fish in the East, often kept in ponds or rice fields.

Yellow eel (Monopterus alba): scaleless, can stand upright in shallow water with the front half of the body, breathe with the mouth to the surface, and store air in the mouth and throat, so the throat appears swollen. Widely distributed in southeastern Asia, common freshwater edible fish, found everywhere except the northwest plateau, inhabits ponds, streams, rice fields, etc., often lurking in mud holes or cracks in rocks. Comes out at night to look for food. Reproduction is rather special, as it is female when young, and turns into male after reproduction once. This female-male transformation phenomenon is called sex reversal.

The eel is a tropical and warm temperate fish. It is a bottom-dwelling fish with strong adaptability and can survive in rivers, lakes, ditches and rice fields. During the day, it likes to burrow in humus-rich mud or live in burrows in rock crevices near water on the embankment. It rarely moves during the day and comes out of its burrows to look for food at night. Its gills are not well developed, but it uses the inner wall of its mouth and throat as an auxiliary organ for breathing, and can breathe air directly; it can survive when the oxygen content in the water is very poor. After leaving the water, as long as the skin is kept moist, it will not die within a few days. The eel is an omnivorous fish that feeds on various small animals. It is greedy and eats most vigorously in summer. It can go without food for a long time in cold seasons without dying.

The reproductive season of the yellow eel is about June to August. In its individual development, it has the characteristics of sex reversal, that is, it is female from the embryonic stage to the first sexual maturity (that is, the gonads of individuals with a body length of less than 35 cm are all ovaries); after spawning, the ovaries gradually become testes; when the body length is 36-48 cm, the sex is partially reversed, and the male and female individuals are almost equal; those that grow to more than 53 cm are mostly testes. When the young fish can only grow to 20 cm, the female fish will reach maturity after 2 winters, with a body length of at least 34 cm. The largest individual can reach 70 cm and weigh 1.5 kg. The yellow eel lays eggs near the entrance of its burrow. Before spawning, it spits out foam from its mouth to form a nest. The fertilized eggs develop on the water surface in the foam with the help of the buoyancy of the foam. Both male and female fish have the habit of protecting the nest.

The eel's body is cylindrical, suitable for cave life, which is very beneficial for entering and exiting the cave and reducing friction. It really has a bit of a "hermit" temperament, with no special attacking skills and no powerful defensive weapons. Its only skill is "36 strategies, escape is the best strategy". It has neither brain fins nor pelvic fins, and even its dorsal and anal fins have degenerated to the point where only a few skin folds are left, and its scales have disappeared to the point where they are difficult to see with the naked eye. However, its entire body can secrete very slippery mucus, and if you are not careful, it can slip away from your hands. The main functions of the mucus on the eel's body are: preventing bacteria and germs from infecting the body and reducing diseases; preventing parasitic animals and plants from entangling it, which is beneficial for its growth; and its slippery surface is beneficial for it to pass through the mud unimpeded.

When the eel embryo develops to the first sexual maturity, it is female, but when it begins the second sexual maturity, it becomes male again. This means that the eel is both a mother and a father in its life. This yin-yang transformation process is called sex reversal in biology.

Most fish breathe through gills, but eels are unique. Their gills have degenerated, and they breathe in air directly through the tiny blood vessels on the surface of their throats. So if we want to keep the eels fresh, we must keep them moist and store them in a cool place.

So loaches belong to the Cobitidae family, and eels belong to the subfamily of Cobitinae.

Not the same

They are not the same kind of fish... Eels are commonly known as yellow eels. When they grow up, they are much longer than loaches and are similar to snakes. They must live in places with a lot of water. But loaches can live in mud without water. It's amazing. When I was a child, I often dug in the mud pits in my hometown... ...There are no similarities from living habits to appearance characteristics... The only thing I remember is that they are slippery and hard to catch...

Definitely not

I don't think so. Otherwise, why would they have different names?

No, they may look a bit similar. I missed an exam because of this.