CLOWN FEATHERBACK

The clown featherback (Chitala ornata), clown knifefish, Pla Grai (Thai) or spotted knifefish, Chitala ornata, is a nocturnal tropical fish with a long, knife-like body. The Clown featherback (Chitala ornata) is a very popular knifefish. This is partly because of its common availability and being relatively inexpensive.  But its also a favorite because it is extremely attractive.  Clown featherback (Chitala ornata) has a grey to silver body with a dark or brown back. Clown featherback (Chitala ornata) has a long caudal fin and a greyish head and belly, with a row of round spots above the base of the anal fin.

This clown featherback (Chitala ornata) is native to the Mekong Basin (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam), this important food fish is thin, with flesh so tender it's nearly mushy, and so shot full of bones, spines and fin rays it's nearly impossible to eat whole or as fillets. It is, however, the preferred fish for fish cakes, fish balls and some kinds of pickled fish and fish sauce in Thailand and Vietnam.

Clown featherback (Chitala ornata) appears all year-round, the most popular catching means is casting-net, fishing net, fishing.

The clown featherback (Chitala ornata) is a very popular knifefish. This is partly because of its common availability and being relatively inexpensive. Clown featherback is a kind of delicious fish, so it usually has names in the menu of many luxurious restaurants.

Clown featherback (Chitala ornata) is difficult and tedious to prepare, it's essential for some very popular fish cake recipes, the elastic texture of clown featherback flesh is truly unique.

The clown featherback (Chitala ornata) is commonly seen in the cuisine of Thailand and other southeast Asian countries. In Thailand when deep-fried clown featherback (Chitala ornata) as Pla krai thot krathiam it is served with a spicy dipping sauce on the side made by mashing up coriander roots, bird's eye chillies and garlic, and mixing this with fish sauce, lime juice and sugar. Like all knifefish or featherbacks in Vietnam, the clown featherback (Chitala ornata)  are often processed to make ground fish paste. To make the fish paste, we use the back side of knife, scrape all the flesh off both the bones and the skin. Note that it's shot full of pin bones in some areas. Try to leave all bones and fin rays behind. When we’re finished scraping we run the flesh through a food mill to remove anything we missed. Discard everything but the scraped flesh. Fresh fish paste can be cooked in knifefish soup. Fried or grilled fish paste (in form of fistcakes) can be consumed as food, or an ingredient for other dishes.