Sometime soon, a Chinese gourmand will sit down to a delicacy known as jin qian min, translated as “golden coin maw” or “money maw” made from the swim bladder of the totoaba, a large fish found in Mexico’s Gulf of California. The swim bladders sell for US$22,000 per kg in China, up from US$9,000 two years ago as they grow in scarcity.
That swim bladders,…