What is totoaba swim bladder?
Swim bladders enable totoaba to maintain their buoyancy in the water. They are used in traditional medicines in China and can fetch up to £15,000 on the black market. Many people believe it can cure ailments such as arthritis.
How much does a totoaba bladder weigh?
Research shows that a single totoaba bladder can sell anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 at shops in Hong Kong. A bladder that weighs 400 grams can sell for $65,000. So what is so special about a totoaba’s bladder that makes people spend that much money?
Why is totoaba swim bladder so expensive?
The swim bladder of the totoaba is particularly prized due to its large size and thickness, as well as its perceived health benefits. It is not the first victim of the Chinese taste for maw. The Chinese bahaba, native to the waters off south-eastern China, has a swim bladder with similar properties.
Which fish has the largest swim bladder?
totoaba
The totoaba is prized for its large bladder. The international trade in exotic animal parts includes rhino horn, seahorses and bear gallbladders. But perhaps none is as strange as the swim bladder from a giant Mexican fish called the totoaba. The totoaba can grow to the size of a football player.
What is a swim bladder and what does it do?
The trick is the swim bladder, which is basically like an air-inflated balloon that can expand and contract depending on how much gas is inside. When the swim bladder deflates the fish’s buoyancy decreases and it will sink as it displaces less water. Divers use the same concept for their buoyancy-control devices.
What causes swim bladder disease?
Causes of Swim Bladder Disorder This disorder is sometimes caused by compression of the swim bladder, which may involve a distended stomach from rapidly eating, overeating, constipation, or gulping air, which is thought to occur with floating foods.
How much does a totoaba swim bladder cost?
According to the warrant application, details of which are being reported for the first time by Quartz, totoaba swim bladders sell for $20,000 to $80,000 per kilogram, “rivaling the price of gold and cocaine.”
What are swim bladders used for?
The swim bladder is a gas-filled organ in the dorsal coelomic cavity of fish. Its primary function is maintaining buoyancy, but it is also involved in respiration, sound production, and possibly perception of pressure fluctuations (including sound).
How much is totoaba swim bladder worth?
Are Totoaba and vaquita the same?
The totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi) is a large species of fish native to the Gulf of California in Mexico. Like the vaquita, it is listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as “critically endangered”. The totoaba is being sought after for its swim bladder, which is considered a delicacy in China.
What kind of fish is Totoaba?
The totoaba or totuava (Totoaba macdonaldi) is a species of marine fish, a very large member of the drum family Sciaenidae that is endemic to the Gulf of California in Mexico. It is the only species in the genus Totoaba….
| Totoaba | |
|---|---|
| Family: | Sciaenidae |
| Genus: | Totoaba |
| Species: | T. macdonaldi |
| Binomial name |
What does totoaba swim bladder have to do with?
Traditional Chinese medicine claim that swim bladders from the fish family, Sciaenidate (including totoaba), are curatives for variety of ailments. However, scientific research has yet to find any health benefits from consuming the gas-filled bladder. But what does the illegal trade in totoaba swim bladders have to do with vaquitas?
How many people have been arrested for totoaba swim bladders?
Since the beginning of 2018, Chinese customs authorities have uncovered five cases of smuggling in totoaba swim bladders, also known as fish maw. Thirty-two people have been arrested and 300 million yuan (US$45 million) worth of contraband seized.
What kind of fish is the totoaba used for?
In two separate arrests of Chinese nationals, Mexican police confiscated more than 800 swim bladders from a large fish called the totoaba. Totoaba swim bladders are used in traditional medicine and can fetch thousands of dollars per kilogram in Chinese markets.
Why are Chinese turning to Mexican totoaba for bladders?
It could be that when a Chinese fish called a yellow croaker, which once supplied bladders, started dying out, people started turning to the Mexican totoaba to meet the demand for bladders. A scientist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a dried totoaba bladder at a news conference in 2013.