Floating markets are a very popular tourist attraction in Thailand where tourists flock to shop many unusual items and especially ‘street’ food. However one vendor recently caused quite a commotion by selling roasted seahorses on a stick.
Despite having virtually no meat, in traditional Chinese medicine seahorse is purported to have a range of uses, most notably for aphrodisiac purposes. There is no factual evidence to suggest that chewing on this bony fish will give anyone a boner but for the vendor was selling these for 150 Baht or around $5 a piece.
Thankfully, the plight of seahorses across the world is also well known in this part of the world. While the only laws governing the sale or trade in Hippocampus are CITES permits which only pertain to international trade, this vendor was not in fact breaking any laws, unless these were imported from another country.
Nevertheless, the roasted seahorse sticks have brought a lot of negative press upon this particular vendor and has gotten them into hot water with the operator of the floating market. They’ve been ordered to stop selling the endangered species novelty snack. [ThaiPBS]
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