Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-07
By: Tang Ya-wen and Staff Reporter

Jeng Ming-shiou, a research fellow at the Biodiversity Research Center in

A giant milkfish at a fish market. (Photo courtesy of Jeng Ming-shiou)

Taiwan’s Academic Sinica, recently discovered large milkfish in the waters off the coasts of Kenting, Penghu, and Green island. The fish hadn’t been seen there in that past. Meanwhile, Jeng also found that the numbers of silver-stripe round herring had sharply decreased. He suggested that the round herring population could have been devastated by milkfish, reports our Chinese-language sister paper the China Times.

When Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan in 2009, several hundred thousand milkfish bred by farmers in Chiayi’s Tung-Shi Fishery Harbor were tossed into the sea by the strong winds and rain which destroyed their ponds, according to Jeng. The fish were later found in waters around Taiwan, having grown to very large sizes.

Jeng said he spent NT$1,500 (US$50) buying a 100 centimeter milkfish in Pingtung’s fish market weighing almost 10 kilograms in 2013, while a conventional milkfish is less than 5cm, and weights only 1 kg.     [FULL  STORY]