MALAYAN FISHES. T 



Fishes known to produce demersal eg<js on our coasts are the 

 Gar-Pdke (Todak) and the Flying-fish (Belalang) and their eggs 

 have viscid threads h}' which the\- become attached or entangled 

 with foreign objects or eggs of the same species. The eggs of the 

 Todak may be seen entangled in li«hing stakes (kelong) in masses,, 

 which look rather like cobwebs. 



When the breeding season arrives fishes migrate to the loca- 

 lities most suitable for the deposition of their eggs. At this time 

 our principal food fish which produce pelagic eggs proceed far out 

 to sea against the prevailing monsoonal current. This is known as 

 the contraiiatant spawning migration. After spawning, the eggs 

 are brought back by the current towards the coast. This is the 

 denatant drift. 



Though the eggs of many species of fish hatch out fry which 

 are miniature representations of tlie adult fish, the eggs of others 

 hatch out ilarval forms, known as Leptocephali, which bear no re- 

 semblance to their patents. These Leptocephali are transparent, 

 attenuated creatures, often ribbon-like in shape, with very small 

 heads. They appear to be incapable of much eft'ort and to be 

 specially adapted for passive drift; in fact, the Leptocephalus 

 stage appear to be a marvellous provision of Mature to enaljle 

 the young of certain fish which spawn far out at sea to reach 

 the shallows near the coasts in a state of suspended animation. 

 We know that the Tarpdn {Merjalops ci)prinoides) Malay Bulan- 

 bulan and the Giant Herring ( Flops hawaiiensis) Malay Ban- 

 dang, pass through a Leptocejjhalus stage, and as no Malay 

 fisherman whom I have questioned, has ever seen tlie Parang- 

 parang (Cliirocentms dorah) until it was a few inches long, 

 it may be l)ecause this fish passes tlirough a larval metamor- 

 phosis also. It is only within recent years, that certain Lepto- 

 cephali, long known to naturalists, have been identified as larval 

 Eels.^ 



For example, Leptocephalua brevirostris is now known to be 

 the larva of the common Eel of Europe {Angiiilla vulgaris) and 

 Leptoceplialus morrisii has been watched through its metamorpliosis 

 into the Conger Eel (Conger vulgaris). 



If the contranatant sjjawning migration is against the S. W. 

 monsoonal current, the ova and larvae will drift in a K. E. direction 

 and those that enter the Straits of Malacca, for instance, would 

 gradually approach the West coast of the Peninsula. Similarly, 

 a spawning migration in the South China Sea during the N. E. 

 monsoon would result in the larvae being carried along and dis- 

 persed along the East coast of the Peninsula, 



As the larvae approach the coast they come within the influence 

 of the tides and while continuing their progress with the monsoon 

 current they are carried backwards and forwards l>y tlie daily ebb 

 and flow of the tides. 



' Meek, Migrations of Fish. 



