Bronze Featherback

[Pla Salat (Thailand); Cá thát lát (Viet); ngaphe (Burma); Notopterus notopterus]

This Featherback is native to practically all river basins from the Indus through Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and Java, and occasionally enters brackish waters. It is absent from Borneo and the Red River of North Vietnam. This fish is very dark in color when young, and becomes lighter as it matures. It can grow to 24 inches (60 cm) but is more commonly 10 inches (25 cm) and is an important food fish throughout its range. It is fished commercially and also farmed. IUCN Red Listed LC (Least Concern). Photo by Ajiman distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike v3.0 Unported.

Cooking:

This fish is cooked many different ways through its range. In Burma it is made with rice into a fermented fish cake, which can be cut up and used in salads, etc. It is also made into an unfermented paste for making fish patties, fish balls and the like. This would be done similarly to how Clown Featherback is processed.

Dried Smoked Bronze Featherback Fish In Thailand this fish is Smoke Dried, then ground as an ingredient in nam phrik pla salat pon, a dip used with raw vegetables and in other ways. Photo by Xufanc distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike v3.0 Unported.

Buying:

I have not found this fish for sale in the Asian markets here in Los Angeles.

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