A record CNY 180,000 (USD 27,140, EUR 24,425) was paid for a single bahaba fish caught in Myanmar earlier this week by a traditional medicine practitioner in China. The bahaba fish is prized in China for the supposed medicinal value of its bladder.
While much has been made of the industrial-scale slaughter of elephants, rhinos and tigers for use in Chinese traditional medicine, the plight of the bahaba has received less attention.
The bahaba, a yellow-finned fish that is a protected species in mainland China, has largely disappeared due to poaching and the industrial degradation of its traditional spawning habitats in river estuaries.
The comparatively underdeveloped waters of Myanmar, however, have become a new focus for traders in the fish from China and Hong Kong.
