MARKET FOR SHARKS' FINS.

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 17, 21 July 1928, Page 12

MARKET FOR SHARKS' FINS.

In China, sharks' fins are considered palatable, and are always served at regular feasts. The total amount imported into China amounts yearly to abfiut 1,5i-0,000 dollars, according to the Chinese "Economic Bulletin." The so-called sharks' fins consist of the fins not only of sharks, b_t of rays, and certain other fsh. Most of the shark fins imported into China come from India, and are obtained from the devil iish, the fresh water shark, the mud skate, aud the hammer-headed shark. Supplies are obtained from various points in the Indian Ocean. With the exception of the caudal fins, all the fins are cut from the fish at the root. After the root has been dipped into a kind of wetted lime, the fins are dried in the sun, and finally graded into two kinds, Known as black fins and white fins. Sometimes before being marketed, sharks' fins are cither soaked in hot water or steamed in order to soften the skin, which, together with most of the bone, is next removed, the gelatinous substance which forms the valuable portion of the fin being further treated and finally dried. Fins so prepared are classified as "sharks' fins clarified," or "sharks' fins prepared," and are sold in the form of long and bushy fringelike substances, yellowish white and gelatinous. The inferior kinds are reddish white or dark brown in colour, short, small, and not as bushy as the better quality. Sharks' fins' should be kept from moisture, as.they deteriorate rapidly when wet. They are used as food, usually cooked in soups, and are esteemed by the Chinese for their supposed tonic, strengthening, and stimulating properties.