Both hairtail fish and saury are relatively common aquatic foods in life. These two fishes are very beneficial and have high nutritional value after proper cooking. However, there are still many of these two fishes. What are the differences between hairtail fish and saury fish? What is the difference between hairtail fish and saury fish? Let’s learn more about the difference between hairtail fish and saury fish.

1. Differences between biological families and genera

Oilfish: Chordata - Actinopterygian - Perciformes - Hairtail.

Knifefish: Phylum Chordata - Class Osteichthyes - Order Herring - Family _.

2. Differences in living environment

Hairtail: lives in the deep sea and is distributed in the Yellow Sea, Bohai Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea in China.

Swordfish: It is a small migratory fish with a warm nature in the middle and upper layers. It usually lives in brackish water areas near the sea. During the reproductive season, it enters fresh water from the estuary and travels upstream along the main stream to the production grounds in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River for reproductive migration.

3. Differences in appearance

Hairtail fish: The size is relatively large. The average length of an adult hairtail fish is about 1 meter. Its body is flat like a belt on the side, silver-gray in color, and its dorsal and pectoral fins are shallow. It is gray with very fine spots and a black tail. The hairtail fish has a large pointed mouth and gradually tapers to the tail.

Swordfish: The body size is relatively small. The length of an adult swordfish is generally between 18 and 25 centimeters. The body of the swordfish is long, flat on the sides, and tapers toward the back in the shape of a sickle. The head and back are light blue, the sides of the body are slightly yellow, the abdomen is gray-white, the bases of each fin are beige, and the edge of the tail fin is black.

4. Differences in food

Hairtail: It is a ferocious carnivorous fish that feeds on shrimps, squid, etc.

Saury: It is a small fish species that feeds on small insects, small fish, etc.

5. Things to know when purchasing hairtail

1. Look at the body of the fish: A good fresh hairtail should be well-proportioned, plump, complete, thick, hard and not bent. The higher the hardness of fresh hairtail, the fresher it is. The softer hairtail is stale hairtail.

2. Look at the silver scales: The color of the fish surface should be off-white or silver-gray and shiny. If there is a layer of yellow substance attached to it, it means the hairtail has been stored for a long time and is not fresh. Secondly, check whether there are too many silver scales falling off. The more silver scales fall off, it means that the hairtail has been flipped over more times. Such hairtail is no longer fresh enough.

3. Look at the gills: Looking at the gills is a key skill in selecting fresh hairtail. The brighter the gills, the fresher it is.

4. Look at fish eyes: Fish eyes with bulging eyeballs and clear black and white are good hairtail fish, while those with sunken eyeballs and a layer of white mist are defective.

5. Look at the fish maw: Do not buy hairtail with a broken maw. This type of hairtail is usually one that has begun to rot.

6. Look at the ice layer: Don’t buy chilled hairtail if the ice layer is too thick, because you bought a piece of ice for the price of the hairtail. But the ice layer also protects the silver scales, so you should buy chilled hairtail with a moderate ice layer to prevent the precious silver scales from being removed.

7. Smell: Some vendors will soak broken hairtail in ice water, because ice water can mask the smell of hairtail. Therefore, if you encounter hairtail soaked in ice water, smell it carefully to see if the hairtail has a peculiar smell. Hairtail with a peculiar smell is a bad hairtail.