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This was my second trip to Sarawak and proved to be most interesting. Betta taeniata
was at last found by pure and simple unadulterated good luck. This time round, we
concentrated on the areas around Kuching.
Day 1
We arrived on Sunday, hoping to soak in the atmosphere of the weekend market at Jalan
Satok. To our dismay, it had already closed in the early afternoon. Apparently, the market
starts on Saturday, lasts through the night and stops just after noon on Sunday! We also
discovered that Sunday is the official rest day for the majority of shops and businesses
in Kuching. Luckily, some shopping centres were still open. For lunch, we tried out some
fast food at 'Sugar Buns'. It was DEPLORABLE!! We have, since then, steered clear of that
fast food chain. The car hire shop was also closed on Sunday, therefore we had to wait
until Monday to start work.
Day 2
We managed to get a vehicle, after some early morning calls to the hire shops. Luckily,
the shops there open early (8.30 a.m.). We proceeded to sample the areas around Matang
where Linke (1990) had collected some Betta taeniata before but no belontiids were
caught, which was very disappointing. At the last site of the day, ~10 km from Kuching in
the Matang area, we caught some Betta cf. akarensis and two species of snakeheads -
Channa lucius and C.bankanensis. The water was black and pH 4.1, the stream
situated next to a peat swamp forest. We headed back toward town with heavy hearts.
Day 3
We headed toward Serian town, where we had breakfast and also visited the local wet
market. There was a variety of freshwater food fish on the stalls, among which were Anabas
testudineus, Channa striata and Clarias nieuhofi. Next we headed away from
Serian to our first site, about 1 km toward Gedong, a clear water, fast-flowing stream of
pH 5.9. There were torrent fish here - Homaloptera cf. tweediei and Nemacheilus
saravacensis. We hit pay dirt at the next site - Betta taeniata ! This river
was about 7 km after Serian into the turn-off directly after the town and a further 6 km
into a right side road. We were about to give up when we decided to just keep going for a
few minutes more. Voila! A small river, about 10 m at its widest and up to 1.2 m deep
flowed across the road. The water was clear, pH 7.0. The substratum was gravel-strewn with
stones and rocks. In certain stretches, there were riffles and these were very
fast-flowing. There was no aquatic vegetation but rheophytic aroids were present.
The first dip of the net brought up a Betta. It was a rather short and stocky
specimen with short fins, which had blue edges on the caudal and anal fins- Betta
taeniata!! We were so excited and exhilarated but although we fished for about three
hours, we only managed to get about 10 specimens.
Torrent fishes were also present in this river - Paracrossochilus vittatus,
Homaloptera cf. tweediei, Gastomyzon fasciatus, G.punctulatus, Nemachilus saravacensis and
Glyptothorax sp. I was very excited indeed! This was the first time that I had
caught B.taeniata and Gastromyzon, moreover in the same habitat. Initially,
when I first caught Gastromyzon I thought it was a torrent tadpole but on closer
inspection, it had two pairs of splayed-out fins on the anterior part, with a rather
colourful caudal, streaked with blue. The body colour was blackish, one species had a
barred pattern (G.fasciatus) and the other was spotted (G. punctulatus). We
met an Iban local, who identified B.taeniata in the Iban vernacular as "Ikan
T'pachi". After this site, we headed back to Kuching for a celebratory dinner.
Day 4
We set off with two Sarawak Museum staff to guide us around the Lundu area, west of
Kuching. The road around that area was still under construction, so we had a very bumpy
ride. It was also a very hot day so that some unripe bananas, bought in the morning and
left in the car, were literally cooked brown by the end of the day. The streams sampled in
that area were generally shallow and clear and depopulate. No belontiids were caught.
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As we headed back to Bau, somewhere about mid-way, we stopped to sample a small river.
It had slightly tea-tinged water (pH~6.8) and it was quite fast-flowing in parts. Aquatic
vegetation was present - Cabomba and Barclaya motleyi. The presence of Barclaya
indicated that there was a swamp forest upstream. The stream yielded one Betta
species. When I first caught it, I thought it was a large Betta taeniata (~50 mm
SL). It had a rather broad, pale-blue anal fin edge and a little blue on the caudal,
together with an iridescent greenish-blue operculum. On closer examination, I realised it
was actually a specimen of the B.pugnax complex - the first to be reported from
Sarawak. Luciocephalus pulcher and Nandus nebulosus were also caught.
Torrent fish like Homalptera cf. tweediei and Glyptothorax were also found
here. Carinotetraodon salivator were obtained, although they were very difficult to
catch as they prefer the deeper parts of the waterway.
Next we sampled a stream near Kampung Stinggang, which
certain literature cited as an excellent habitat. We found out, to our utter
dismay, that the villagers had transformed the stream into a dumping ground.
There was even a maggot-covered dog carcass near the stream, which someone
nearly stepped on. The stream had a substratum of very fine, almost silt-like,
sand. Certain stretches felt like walking on quick-sand. The water was murky,
indicating some heavy disturbance upstream, most probably logging. After that,
we headed back but I couldn't help but feel upset by the polluted state of the
last site.
Day 5
No belontiids were obtained on this last day of collection when we sampled south
of Bau town. It was a fast-flowing river with murky water and a sandy bottom.
This site was prone to flash floods, as evidenced by its steep banks. Luckily it
was another sunny day. An interesting loach was caught here- Acantopsoides robertsi,
which was also the highlight of the day. Next, we tried a stream outside the
Fairy Caves, which was a karstic (limestone) area. The surrounding areas had
been converted into cocoa plantations. Fish diversity was low, probably due to
the excessive chemicals leached into the plantations which was evident from the
oily layers on the water surface. The only interesting fauna found was a small,
freshwater clam. It was plentiful in the stream bed, found at the surface and in
the anoxic substratum.
Day 6
Before heading back to Singapore, we did a bit of souvenir hunting at the
water-front shops. A note of interest from our observations driving around
Kuching. It is a city of roundabouts (traffic circles). At every junction, there
was a circle. Even in small towns, there was a small circle in the middle of
town. Someone should count the number of circles Kuching has and perhaps rename
it 'City of Circles'. Besides which, we had hardly seen any cats around the city
of cats- Kuching!
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