Yellow tail fish is a general term for the fishes of the subfamily Cyprinidae, which are common and typical riverine medium and small fish. It is produced in all major river basins in China, and the common ones are the silver catfish, the slender catfish, the roundnose catfish and the yellowtail catfish, all of which are large in size.

The shape of this fish is roughly the same, the body is flat on the side, the abdomen is round, and some have ventral ribs from the pelvic fin to the anus, the head is small, and the snout is blunt. Mouth inferior or nearly anterior, with flat and horizontal mouth. The mandible has a sharp horny margin and no whiskers. The body is rounded. Dorsal fin with smooth spines, 7 to 9 branched rays, mostly 7. The back is grey-black and the belly is silver-white. The most distinctive feature of the yellow tail fish is that the anus is immediately before the origin of the anal fin, and it is often deliberately exposed to others.
The yellow tail fish is elongated and flattened laterally, generally about 30 cm long. Silvery white with yellow. Mouth small, lower, shovel-shaped mandible, often with horny protrusions on the edge. Dorsal fin with spines. Omnivorous, likes to scrape algae for food. It is produced in waters all over our country. There are several species of yellow-tailed catfish, silver catfish, round-nosed catfish, and fine-scale oblique jaw catfish. The latter two have been domesticated and can be fished. Yellow tail fish grow faster and reproduce naturally.