Isinglass place of Russian isinglass. The bladders, once removed from the fish, processed, and dried, are formed into various shapes for use. Before the inexpensive production of gelatin and other competing products, isinglass was used in confectionery and desserts such as fruit jelly and "blancmange". Isinglass finings are widely used as a processing aid in the British brewing industry to accelerate the fining, or clarification, of beer. It is used particularly in the production of cask-conditioned beers, although a few cask ales are available which are not fined using isinglass. The finings flocculate the live yeast in the beer into a
Swim bladder delicacy. In China they are known as "fish maw", 花膠/鱼鳔, and are served in soups or stews. The vanity price of a vanishing kind of maw is behind the imminent extinction of the vaquita, the world's smallest dolphin breed. Only found in Mexico's Gulf of California, the once numerous vaquita now number less than 60 in total. Vaquita die in gillnets set to catch totoaba (the world's largest drum fish). Totoaba are being hunted to extinction for its maw, which can sell for as much $10,000 per kilogram. Swim bladders are also used in the food industry as a source