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| KUHLII LOACH CAST A MAGIC SPELL ON ME !!! |
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| April 18th 2003. Today is the public holiday in Sarawak. I felt so boring to stay at home so I invited my cousin to go to the countryside to look for fish. I was driving to the direction of Lundu. On the way to Lundu, I found a Kampong road on the left side of the main road. I decided to go to explore that area. |
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| About 20 minutes later, I stopped at a brownish colored river. I was shocked to see the aquatic plant which I never seen before. It looks like sword plant.( Later, I found out its the Blyxa species ) After collecting the plant, I went to catch some fish but all the fish I caught are common Rasbora sarawakensis and Puntius kuchingensis. |
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| I proceed to another collection point. It is a half brownish, half blackwater stream. We saw a lot of aquatic plant growing there. There are about 2 or 3 species of aquatic plant which I never seen before.....then I caught a colorful loach but it escaped through a hole in my net. Then, my cousin caught something inside his net. Oh my goodness...its the kuhlii loach !(Pangiokuhlii) Most of the local people here never seen a kuhlii loach before because nobody cares about the wild fish and not interested to know it. This fish is not available in the local fish shop so we were so excited to bring them back. I also found an unidentified wild betta which got green colored cheek. I did not understand why the wild betta in that area is different from the wild betta in Kuching area. At that time, I did not have reference book or somebody to ask about the wild betta in Sarawak. |
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Blyxa specis. |
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My mum thought Pangio kuhlii is water snake! |
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The green cheek wild betta I found is Betta cf pugnax; an undescribed betta species. |
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| Few weeks later, I revisited that stream and found an aquatic plant growing under the tree shade. I was surprised to see aquatic plant can grow in the place where there is no much sunlight. I thought its the first cryptocoryne plant that I have found. ( Later I found out its Barclaya motleyi ) |
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Barclaya motleyi does not like strong sunlight. |
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| One month later, I went to explore upper Sarawak river alone and found this purple - bluish colored pangio species. ( Later found out its another color variant of Pangio shelfordii ) I was so happy because I never thought there are so many pangio species in my homeland. I also found an aquatic plant growing under the tree shade. Its Cryptocorynes keei.....my very first cryptocoryne ! |
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| Few weeks later, my cousin visited that river. The water was very high due to the heavy downpour. He could not get across the river to the spot where I found purple - bluish colored Pangio shelfordii . So he tried to scoop up some leaves litter near the bank using the net and he was shocked to find golden shining colored loach ....Pangio doriae ! |
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| After that, both of us swear to continue to collect wild fish and explore the jungle streams of Borneo. The kuhlii loach has cast a magic spell on me. Indeed, Borneo is a heaven to find beautiful tropical fish and aquatic plant ! |
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A purple - bluish colored Pangio shelfordii. |
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Pangio doriae; my cousin described it as a gold chain of Sungai Sarawak. |
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The first cryptocoryne plant found by me; Cryptocornes keei !! |
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PLEASE TAKE NOTE THAT THE "PANGIO KUHLII" WHICH I FOUND WAS ACTUALLY EITHER PANGIO SEMICINCTA OR PANGIO MALAYANA AS PANGIO KUHLII IS ONLY FOUND IN JAVA, NOT BORNEO. |
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