--- title: See a Chinese Road Covered in Almost 15,000 Lb. of Catfish description: 15,000 lb. of catfish were strewn across a road in China and with the help of the community, the shipment was not wasted canonical: https://time.com/3752151/china-road-catfish/ author: Kevin McSpadden article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-20T08:52:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:47:51.978Z og:title: Bringing a whole new meaning to the term 'street food' og:description: Workers kept fish alive with water hoses during two-hour rescue effort. og:url: https://time.com/3752151/china-road-catfish/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfaa5209c2f5f32a3/6987847a55a859f484a86640/spill-catfish-china-6800.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Thousands Of Kilograms Of Catfish Scatter In Kaili og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bringing a whole new meaning to the term 'street food' twitter:description: Workers kept fish alive with water hoses during two-hour rescue effort. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfaa5209c2f5f32a3/6987847a55a859f484a86640/spill-catfish-china-6800.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Road in China Got Covered in Almost 15,000 Lb. of Live Catfish by [Kevin McSpadden](https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden Mar 20, 2015 8:52 AM UTC  Thousands of kilograms of catfish scatter across the road in the Kaili Development Zone in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture on March 17, 2015, in Kaili, Guizhou province of China Thousands of kilograms of catfish scatter across the road in the Kaili Development Zone in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture on March 17, 2015, in Kaili, Guizhou province of ChinaChinaFotoPress/Getty Images by [Kevin McSpadden](https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden Mar 20, 2015 8:52 AM UTC When the door of a delivery truck in the southern Chinese province of Guizhou swung open, [15,000 lb. (6,800 kg) of catfish](http://shanghaiist.com/2015/03/18/6800-kilos-fish-spilled-guizhou-road-rescued-hoses.php) came spilling out, covering the road in a flopping, scaly mess. Remarkably, with the help of community members and the local fire department, a two-hour rescue effort was undertaken and the shipment was not wasted, according to the Shanghaiist_._ Their task was arduous but simple — workers basically sprayed the fish with water to keep them alive while others picked them up and returned them to the truck. And thanks to their efforts, these fish out of water finally made it to the dinner table.  With the help of fire crews of Development Zone Squadron in Qiandongnan Fire Detachment and local people, the catfish were loaded on the truck again. ChinaFotoPress—Getty Images  Thousands of kilograms of catfish scatter across the road in the Kaili Development Zone in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture on March 17, 2015 in Kaili, Guizhou province of China ChinaFotoPress—Getty Images \[[_Shanghaiist_](http://shanghaiist.com/2015/03/18/6800-kilos-fish-spilled-guizhou-road-rescued-hoses.php)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3752151/china-road-catfish/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3752151/china-road-catfish/"},"headline":"This Road in China Got Covered in Almost 15,000 Lb. of Live Catfish","datePublished":"2015-03-20T08:52:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:47:51.978Z","description":"Bringing a whole new meaning to the term street food","url":"https://time.com/3752151/china-road-catfish/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food","Internet","viral","China","Accident","World","fish"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfaa5209c2f5f32a3/6987847a55a859f484a86640/spill-catfish-china-6800.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kevin McSpadden","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfaa5209c2f5f32a3/6987847a55a859f484a86640/spill-catfish-china-6800.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Thousands Of Kilograms Of Catfish Scatter In Kaili","caption":"Thousands Of Kilograms Of Catfish Scatter In Kaili","creditText":"ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3752151/china-road-catfish/","name":"This Road in China Got Covered in Almost 15,000 Lb. of Live Catfish"}}]}] ```