Basa fish
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| Basa fish | ||||||||||||||
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Secure
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| Pangasius bocourti Sauvage, 1880 |
The basa fish, Pangasius bocourti, is a type of catfish in the family Pangasiidae. Basa are native to the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam and Chao Phraya basin in Thailand.[1] These fish are important food fish with an international market. They are often labeled in the United States as basa fish or bocourti.[2] In Europe, these fish are commonly marketed as pangassius or panga.[3] Other related shark catfish may occasionally be falsely labeled as basa fish, these fish include Pangasius hypophthalmus (iridescent shark) and Pangasius pangasius (yellowtail catfish).
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[edit] Body
The body of a basa fish is stout and heavy. The rounded head is broader than it is long, the blunt snout having a white band on its muzzle.
[edit] Food and Spawning
Basa fish feed on plants. These fish spawn at the onset of the rainy season.[1]
[edit] "Catfish War" in the U.S.
In 2002, the United States accused Vietnam of dumping catfish, namely Pangasius bocourti and Pangasius hypophthalmus, on the American market, charging the Vietnamese importers who are subsidized by Vietnam's government of unfair competition.[4][5] With pressures from the U.S. catfish industry, the United States Congress passed a law in 2003 preventing the imported fish from being labelled as catfish, as well as imposing additional tariffs on the imported fish.[6] Under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruling, only species from the family Ictaluridae can be sold as true catfish.[7] As a result, the Vietnamese exporters of this fish now label their products sold in the U.S. as basa fish or bocourti.[8][9]
At the height of the "catfish war," U.S. catfish farmers and others were describing the imported catfish as an inferior product. However, researchers at the Mississippi State University show that in their experiment, imported basa were preferred in a taste test 3-to-1.[10]
[edit] Mascot
P. bocourti, known in Thai as pla mong, is the mascot of Nakhon Phanom Games, a regional multi-sport event in central Thailand in October 2006.[11]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Pangasius bocourti". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. Mar 2007 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2007.
- ^ "List of Fish Species which are, or may be, Aquacultured". Canadian Food Inspection Agency. 2008-06-09. http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/fispoi/import/aquae.shtml. Retrieved on 2009-01-31.
- ^ "Vietnam catfish farmers angered by French reports". Monsters and Critics. 2008-05-19. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1406190.php/Vietnam_catfish_farmers_angered_by_French_reports. Retrieved on 2009-01-31.
- ^ "Delta Farmers Want Copyright on Catfish". New York Times. 2002-01-16. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804EED91338F935A25752C0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved on 2009-01-31.
- ^ "Food Fight: U.S. accuses Vietnam of dumping catfish on the American market". San Francisco Chronicle. 2003-02-08. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/02/08/BU87596.DTL. Retrieved on 2009-01-31.
- ^ "Catfish by Any Other Name". Time. 2002-02-25. http://www.time.com/time/global/feb2002/articles/catfish.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-31.
- ^ "Basa/Swai". SeaFood Business magazine. http://www.dicarlofood.com/productmanual/basa%20swai.pdf. Retrieved on 2009-01-31.
- ^ "Buyer's Guide: Basa Catfish". SeaFood Business magazine. 2001-11. http://www.seafoodbusiness.com/buyguide/issue_basa.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
- ^ "A Catfish by Any Other Name". New York Times. 2008-10-09. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12catfish-t.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/S/Seafood&pagewanted=all. Retrieved on 2009-01-31.
- ^ "Vietnam has tastier fish than US: studies". Independent Online. 2005-07-19. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=qw1121708884768B223. Retrieved on 2009-01-31.
- ^ Mascot page (in Thai), Nakhon Phanom Games official website, 6 December 2006
[edit] External links
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