Detail

`The Ministry of Communications will issue second part of animal series for this year in three new different stamps featuring Alaska pollack, Yellow corvina and Manchurian trout, a fresh-water fish with which our people has long been familiar. Alaska pollack Alaska pollack, a salty-water fish belonging to the family of codfish has a slim body about 40cm long in the length and is similar to codfish in appearance. With blue-brown colored back and white abdomen, this fish has short barbels and a large mouth while its mandible is longer than upper jaw. It has three dorsal fins, two ventral fins and one fin each at the tail and sides of the body. This fish which has a habit of living in cold current spawns at the flat bottom of waters 50-100 meters deep where the earth is of half sand and half clay. The spawns of one fish ranges from 250,000 to 400,000 eggs. The Alaska pollack has long been our favorite fish food and especially in wintertime, our table becomes alive with the fish which is caught in large quantity in that season. The roe of the fish is processed salted into Myongranchut (pickled pollack roe something like caviare) and from its liver we extract liver oil. This fish is chiefly distributed off coast of North and South Hamkyong province and also found off the Kangwon and North Kyongsang area as well as in the seas of Okhotsk and Berring, and off the western coast of Japan and North America. Manchurian trout Manchurian trout a fresh-water fish belonging to the family of salmon has a silver white body and has a large or small brown-red specks between the eyes, at the sides of the body and on the fins. It is 65cm long and weighs 8kgs. As this fish much prefers cold streams, it never goes down the stream to the sea. It got its name Yolmoky (hot-eyed fish) from the commonly accepted notion that this fish goes up the streams after the cold water in summertime and cools off the heated eyes with the cold waters in the upper stream. It is distributed in the upper streams of deep mountains in our country, Siberia, Europe and North America. Yellow corvina Yellow corvina, otherwise called ``Hwang Joki``, is a salty-water fish which belongs to the family of croaker. It is about 30cm long with long tails and greish golden body. This is distinguished from the species of croaker by its tint of red color on the lips. They pass winter in the eastern sea of Jeju island and of Shanghai, and migrates northward during the period from March to June as they spawn in the shallow water off the coast. At the time of spawning they give a croaking noise like that of frog. In case of lager one, a corvina spawns as many as 30,000 to 60,000 eggs. The corvina which is caught in the largest number in Korea provides a special relish especially in springtime. Sometimes we dry them in the sun to make kulbi (dried corvina) and sometimes we prepare them with salt for pickled corvina. Of all the Kulbi, those that are produced in Yon-kwang. South Chulla province are the most famous and superior ones. The distribution area includes shallow waters off the southern and western coast of our country, in the Gulf of Pechili and off the Taiwan.`