(MY) exotic fish

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Sunday January 22, 2006 - The Star

 

Hundreds flock to farmer's house to view rare fish

 

BY G.C. TAN

 

JITRA: Hundreds of people flocked to a farmer's house in Kampung

Pasir, Mukim Naga, near here, to have a look at a rare fish they call

ikan buaya, which looks like a garfish but has scales.

 

Abdul Razak Zain's house was crowded with people who were there to see

the 5kg fish with its crocodile-like head and jaw and snake-like

scales.

 

Abdul Razak, 33, said he had gone fishing with his son Mohd Nor

Firkrie, nine, at Sungai Pasir, about 1.5km away from home, on Friday.

 

" I first caught two ikan haruan and I then saw a big fish near the

surface of the water, about six metres from the river bank. I tried to

catch the fish using the fishing rod but changed my mind as it would

not have withstood the fish's weight.

 

" I rushed home, took a net and returned to the river. However, the

fish had disappeared. I waited for 15 minutes and the fish resurfaced.

I then cast my net, " he said.

 

Abdul Razak then dived into the river to check his catch and pushed

the net up to ensure the fish did not escape. He then took the fish

home and put it in a tank.

 

" I've been fishing for years and have gone to various lakes, rivers

and open seas but I've never caught this type of fish. I don't know

its name and I hope somebody can shed some light,'' he said.

 

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Monday January 23, 2006 The Star

 

'Croc fish' not of local origin

 

By TEOH TEIK HOONG

 

PETALING JAYA: The alligator gar fish found in the river in Kedah is

not a local fish and could have possibly been released into the river

where it was caught.

 

A local fisheries biologist, who declined to be named, said the

alligator gar was from the United States.

 

" The fish is found in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama,

Mississippi, South Carolina and is a popular aquarium fish, " he said,

adding that the fish can grow very big and weigh as much as 100kg.

 

He said that in many cases, owners of the alligator gar abandon their

pets in streams and rivers when the fish became too big to manage and

costly to feed.

 

It was reported yesterday that a 5kg fish with a crocodile-like head

and jaw and snake-like scales was caught by farmer Abdul Razak Zain

who was fishing at Sungai Pasir in Kampung Pasir, Mukim Naga, near

Jitra.

 

The biologist added: " The presence of this fish in natural waters is a

disturbing phenomenon and points to a continuing degradation of our

local freshwater fauna.

 

" It is bad enough that our local species have to face pollution,

sedimentation and river canalisation; now they have to come under

predator pressures from exotic fish. "

 

The biologist said these problems underscored the fragility of the

country's indigenous freshwater fish populations.

 

" Most Malaysians have no idea how many foreign species have invaded

our waters and what the damage has been.

 

" Don't release such fish into our rivers. People who see such fish in

the river should remove them, " he added.

 

The gar, also known as the gator gar or Lepisosteus spatula, belongs

to a category of primitive ray-finned fish.

 

A mature alligator gar possesses a dual row of large teeth in the

upper jaw. It is these remarkably alligator-like teeth, which give the

fish its name.

 

Gars have swim bladders that can function as lungs – and most gars

surface periodically to take a gulp of air, doing so more frequently

in stagnant or warm water when the concentration of oxygen in the

water is low.

 

As a result, these fish are extremely hardy and able to tolerate

conditions that would kill off most other fish.

 

Gars tend to be slow, preferring shallow weedy areas of rivers, lakes

and bayous. However, they are voracious predators and can catch fish

and crustaceans with their sharp, long needle-like teeth.

 

They are most abundant in tropical to subtropical freshwater, but

several species are found in the more temperate parts of North

America, as far north as southern Canada.

 

Gar flesh is edible, and sometimes available in markets. But unlike

the sturgeons that they resemble, the gars' roe is poisonous.