india

Updated: Jun 21, 2019 12:03 IST

A group of fishermen in Odisha’s Bhadrak district have caught several rare Ghol fish, known for their medicinal value, and sold one of them at whopping Rs 6,000 per kilogram.

Fisherman Narayan Jena and his associates went into deep sea off Dhamra coast on June 15 and returned with ten Ghol fish, many of them weighing over 30kg, on Thursday morning.

“Last night, when we were pulling the net we realised that some big fish have been caught. It took us a lot of time to pull the fish out of the water. Normally, these types of fish are caught once a year. When we saw the fish, we realised that they were rare Ghol fish,” said Jena.

As the news of the prized catch spread, fish trader Shankar Giri bought one of the 30kg fish for Rs 6,000 a kg.

“The fish has export value and I would send it to other countries,” said Giri.

Jena stored the rest of the fishes using ice boxes.

The exotic fish commonly called Ghol is locally known as Teleia as well as black-spotted croaker. The fish is found mostly in the Indian and Pacific Oceans along the coast of Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.

“This fish is quite rare and often we have to venture out into the deep sea to catch it. Sometimes, we only get fish of smaller sizes and if we are lucky enough, we may end up in netting fish which weighs up to 30kg,” said Jena.

Anil Mohapatra, a scientist with the Zoological Survey of India, said that the swim bladder of the fish is used in the purification process of raw wine or beer.

“It has iodine, iron, magnesium, fluoride and selenium. It is also known as the fish with a heart of gold. A type of string-like material obtained from its body is also extensively used in dental purposes,” said Mohapatra.

“Exporters dry this fish and take out the swim bladder. Some swim bladders can fetch as much as Rs 1 lakh per piece. Its skin is cooked or used to make cosmetic products and medicines. Its fins are used by pharma companies to manufacture soluble stitches and in wine purification,” he added.