It may be that the internal organs and gall of the small whitebait were not completely removed.

The little whitebait will have a strong bitter taste in its mouth. There is no way to put the cooked whitebait into the water to clean out the internal organs, liver and gallbladder in the belly of the whitebait.

The next time you make small whitebait, during the cleaning step, you must specially clean the internal organs and gall of the small whitebait. Because the internal organs, liver and gallbladder of fish are bitter, it tastes quite bitter.

However, these will not affect the nutritional value of the fish itself. Generally speaking, small whitebait is still very beneficial to human health.