Spider Glue, one of the five top-grade fish maws

Spider glue ranks third among the five famous glues. Fishermen in Malaysia and Indonesia call the fish it comes from "ikan Tirusan". In Indonesian, it is usually called "Terusan" or "Titusan". Most of the Chinese fishermen who make a living in the coastal waters of Southeast Asia are from the Chaoshan or Fujian regions. The pronunciation of "Titu" is very similar to "spider" in Chaoshan dialect. Therefore, the fish glue is named "spider glue".

Spider glue has the effects of nourishing yin and kidneys, nourishing stomach and lungs, benefiting essence and strengthening spleen, replenishing blood and regulating qi. It is also a good choice for beauty and health, and has significant effects on treating bronchitis, cough, and childhood asthma.

According to folk medicinal examples, spider glue has a good hemostatic effect on conditions such as pulmonary hemorrhage and gastric hemorrhage, and can help the body recover quickly.

Distinguishing features

1. The appearance of unopened spider maw, as described above, is very different from other varieties of fish maw, making it very distinctive and easy to identify. Its overall appearance is unforgettable. Another point is that it often contains fascia on its back.

2. Spider pudding comes in male and female varieties. Male spider pudding has a "thick and thin" belly, with a non-protruding "tendon" running down the middle, while female spider pudding does not. Hong Kong people particularly prefer spider pudding with a tendon in the middle, i.e., male belly, because its texture is smoother, and its elasticity and resilience are far superior to female belly. This is one of the reasons why Hong Kong people have always preferred male belly.

For decades, spider fish weighing more than 5 taels (approximately 250 grams) have been rare on the market. Those weighing 3 or 4 taels (approximately 150-200 grams) are already extremely rare. Therefore, spider fish belong to the small to medium-sized fish species, not the large species. In recent years, spider fish on the market have become increasingly smaller and fewer in number. Currently, this species is near endangered, and those weighing over one tael (approximately 50 grams) are considered top-grade collectibles by some experts. Due to the decreasing number of wild spider fish, their price is currently relatively high.

Chaoshan people highly value the maw of the spider-shaped croaker, which has about 2-6 short, thin whiskers on its two round heads, hence the nickname "little golden coin." Spider maw is extremely popular in Hong Kong and other areas, and its price has been steadily rising over the past decade. In 2012, at the Hong Kong International Food Expo, a pair of male spider maws, each as long as an arm, sold for a staggering HK$680,000 in the luxury food section.

The market for spider glue is rife with counterfeit products. If the price is relatively low, it's often because some vendors are taking advantage of spider glue's reputation and passing off other types of fish glue (such as yellow croaker glue) as spider glue. To mimic its appearance, fishermen sometimes cut two small whiskers off the head of the yellow croaker glue when collecting and drying it, making its shape more similar to spider glue.

Jin Haisheng is a professional recycling company dedicated to recycling various rare and high-quality fish maw products.