Have you ever eaten sea cucumber, or do you want to eat sea cucumber? Tell me what you know about sea cucumbers.

Sea cucumber existed in Precambrian more than 600 million years ago, and it was not officially documented until the Three Kingdoms period. The sea cucumber was officially named in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. "Five Miscellaneous Notes": "Found in Liaodong seaside, it is warm and nourishing enough to visit the old sea cucumber." By the Qing Dynasty, people had begun to regard sea cucumber as a delicacy for senior banquets. ...

Sea cucumber existed in Precambrian more than 600 million years ago, and it was not officially documented until the Three Kingdoms period. The sea cucumber was officially named in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. "Five Miscellaneous Notes": "It is found in the seaside of Liaodong, and it is warm and nourishing enough for the enemy to visit the old sea cucumber." By the Qing dynasty, people had begun to regard sea cucumber as the delicacy of high-class banquets.

There are 900 species of sea cucumbers in the world, most of which are inedible, and only 40 species are edible. Stichopus japonicus is the most nutritious and medicinal species in the world, and it is called "the crown of ginseng".

"sea cucumber", which is called "sea dragon" or "oolong" in menu terminology; It mainly lives in rocky reefs with slow tidal current and little wind and waves, and seaweed grows on the seabed. In China, most of them are distributed in the coastal areas of Bohai Bay, Guangdong and Fujian in the South China Sea, and are produced in Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, Italy and other countries and regions. It belongs to Echinoderm, the same phylum as starfish and sea urchin.

"Sea cucumber" was the first name given to it by ancient people in China. It is named after its moist and nourishing properties, which is better than ginseng. It also has other nicknames, such as local meat, sea rat, sandman, sea melon skin and sea cucumber. It is the general name of sea cucumber in the phylum echinodermata. There are about 900 kinds of food in the world. Stichopus japonicus mainly belongs to Stichopus japonicus, and Stichopus japonicus mainly belongs to Stichopus japonicus, Cucurbitaceae and Araliaceae. Usually, only some sea cucumbers such as Holothuriaceae, Stichopidae, Cucurbitaceae and Holothuriaceae are used for processing and eating.

Sea cucumber propagated on the earth earlier than primitive fish and began to exist in Precambrian about 600 million years ago. After systematic study by paleontologists, sea cucumber bone fragment fossils have become an important basis for stratigraphic paleontologists to divide strata and study paleogeology, and even become standard fossils in Paul's period. More than ten years ago, paleontologists in China discovered the skeleton fragments of sea cucumber in the Permian strata in Huaying Mountain, Sichuan and Changxing, Zhejiang (more than 200 million years ago).

The biggest feature of sea cucumber is its unique dormancy period. Unlike snakes, bats, frogs and other land animals, it sleeps in summer when the sea temperature reaches above 20 degrees Celsius, which is the active period of general fish. The results show that sea cucumber has no natural sharp weapons and means of self-defense, and its actions are slow and clumsy. It is difficult to compete with other animals in the law of the jungle summer, so it has to choose the hibernation activities and foraging of its strong enemies to save itself.

Sea cucumber, because of its rich nutrition, has been called "eight treasures of the sea" together with "abalone, shark's fin and yaozhu" since ancient times, and its medicinal effect is even regarded as a tonic by Chinese medicine. Among them, Shuo Ling, an ancient book, said: "Sea cucumber looks like a male yang, which can tonify kidney and strengthen yang", while Herbal Medicine said that it "tastes sweet, salty and warm, tonifies kidney and clears away heat, and strengthens yang to treat impotence". From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, a very important reason for impotence and premature ejaculation is due to yin deficiency of liver and kidney, because the key to treating impotence by sea cucumber is its effect of "tonifying liver and kidney yin and strengthening kidney yang". Therefore, it is known as "ginseng in the sea", and its nourishing effect can be comparable to that of Changbai Mountain ginseng.

Fresh sea cucumber, which is not directly used as cooking material, must be processed and dried before it can be eaten again; Because when fishermen catch sea cucumbers, if they are not pickled with crude salt and alum in time, the sea cucumbers will slowly dissolve into a pool of liquid. Its varieties are Stichopus japonicus, Poshen, Plum Blossom Ginseng, Fangshen and Bald Ginseng. It is also called Stichopus japonicus, and it is a treasure among China ginseng. Except "Stichopus japonicus", "Plum Blossom Ginseng" and "Square Ginseng", the decent appearance of other sea cucumbers is mostly spineless, and the sea cucumbers produced in the south are thick in skin and flesh.

Stichopus japonicus is produced in Shandong Peninsula and Liaodong Peninsula of China. In the Compendium of Materia Medica compiled by Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty, it was said that (sea cucumber) was produced in Liaodong Bay, with good texture. In the Compendium of Materia Medica compiled by Zhao Xuemin in the Qing Dynasty, it is said that sea cucumbers are also from Dengzhou Sea, bordering Liaodong, and the sea cucumbers produced are also good. This kind of sea cucumber has thick body wall, fine waxy meat, many thorns, yellowish brown, dark brown, pure white and grayish white, and there are two kinds of "fresh water system" and "seawater system", among which light parallel imports are the best.

"Plum Blossom Ginseng" is also called "Pineapple Ginseng" and English is called "Thelenota ananas". Named after the many spikes on the body surface, the flesh spikes are connected at the base, shaped like "plum blossom", and the body color is pure black or purple; It is the best and largest sea cucumber produced in Nanhai, China; However, it is not very popular because of its slightly bitter taste; However, Chinese medicine believes that clearing away heat is the best.

"Stichopus japonicus" is also called "green Stichopus japonicus", "Stichopus japonicus", "sea hammer" or "sea rat" in English: Paracaudina chilensis var, belonging to the family Apostichopus japonicus, mainly produced in Beihai and Hainan Island of China; Its body is quadrangular, with a row of round-headed spines on each side, which is slightly reddish yellow in color and small in size. In the same family as it, there is another kind of sea cucumber, called "Alocasia esculenta", which is spindle-shaped, with a blunt and round front end and an obvious tail at the back end. The body is flesh red; The body wall is thin and translucent. Caves in shallow sea sediments. Distributed in the coastal areas of China and the shallow seas of Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia; The edible value is very low.

Stichopus japonicus, also known as "Yellow Stichopus japonicus", "White Stichopus japonicus" and "Square Stichopus japonicus", is a very common edible sea cucumber in the South China Sea. They are 20-40 cm long, cylindrical in shape, with fleshy spines (wart feet) of different sizes arranged on the back, flat abdomen, dense tube feet, mouth at the front end, 20 lintel tentacles and anus on the back. The skin is sticky and muscular, and the body can stretch or curl. The size, color and number of stings usually vary according to the living environment. The water in the habitat is slow and stable, there is no fresh water injection, and the fine sand seabed and rock reef bottom rich in algae come out at night. It belongs to Stichopus japonicus, with high yield and good quality, but it is too soft and tender.

"Poshen", also known as "White Stone Ginseng", "Pig Poshen" or "White Melon Ginseng", is produced in zhongsha islands, Nanhai, China. It is fat, almost equal in width at both ends, and looks like wax gourd. Its body color changes greatly when it lives, and its background color is white or light yellow. The back is slightly yellowish brown, and there is a reddish-brown horizontal spot on the front and back, so it is called "Erbanshen". It is a large edible sea cucumber with thick and tender meat and good quality. Other sea cucumbers with shapes similar to those of Apostichopus japonicus include Hong Kong Rock Ginseng, Wild Rock Ginseng, African Rock Ginseng and Snow Rock Ginseng.

Snake white ginseng is also called tiger fish, leopard fish and grouper. Its back is dark gray, with yellow serpentine stripes and irregular vertical lines. It lives in the sandy bottom of tropical coral reefs with a small amount of algae, with a water depth of 6- 18 meters, tender meat and good quality.

"Cucumber ginseng" is also called "stone ginseng" and "radial anal ginseng"; "Red Cucumber Ginseng" is also called "Boot Ginseng" and "White Anal Ginseng". "Black ginseng" is also called "black wrinkled anal ginseng". These three kinds of sea cucumbers belong to "Holothuridae" and are large edible sea cucumbers living in Xisha Islands, Nansha Islands and other sea areas. Good quality, but low output. In the same family, there are black sea cucumber, jade foot sea cucumber, black milk sea cucumber and rough sea cucumber, all of which are common edible sea cucumbers in the South China Sea, but their quality is poor.

"Naked ginseng", also known as "cucumber ginseng" or "light ginseng", is called Cucumaria japonica and grows in the South China Sea of China. Its body surface is black without thorns, round in shape, thick in flesh and thin in skin; The disadvantage is that there are many grains of sand, so we should pay more attention to expansion.