Shark’s Fins

The Chinese are most particular about the sharks that carry their favorite fins. They give them names depending on their sizes, body colors, sizes of fins, and the waters in which they are found. The South China Sea, once the richest shark hunting area, is essentially barren today, the result of over-hunting. The sharks in the Indian Ocean and Middle-Eastern waters are deemed too salty and must be processed longer than those from Mexican and Floridian waters, which are considered prime. Why? Because, a fin trader in Hong Kong told me, the tuna off the coast of Mexico eat shrimp, the sharks eat the tuna and thus are big, with considerable fat. The waters off the coast of Costa Rica yield smaller sharks, such as the gummys, with softer, smaller fins, which are like eating egg white. The fins from waters far north or far south are usually considered too small.