MAIiAYAN FISHEa 



Their density causes them to sink lower in Tjrackisli water until 

 they e-ventually liml bottom in the shallow bays and estuaries and in 

 tlua way are grftdudly dis|K*mtHl all long the coast Tlien a 

 metamorphosis takes place and tlie feeble Leptoeeplialus is trans- 

 formed into the active little fish which 6wim*s vi^rorously against 

 the eiirrent ftiid feeds jncessantly and voraciously all tlie time. 



In a rec-ent report on the Fisheries of the S'traita Settkmente 

 find Federated Malay States the writer drow attenfeion to the 

 Chinese fisli-traps called pompang and other licensed fixed engines 

 kn-own as mihiii, lamjgm, etc,, of whieh there are several thousand 

 between Penang and Port Swettenham. Thoiig^h there are many 

 kinds of tlwse traps thev all work on the same prineii>k. In every 

 case there is a wide V-shaped entrance terniiiiating in a long 

 funnel-shaped hag made of sacking or plaited split bamboo.*. The 

 position of these traps is arranged with respect to the currents 

 and tides so at* to intercept the larvae and immature fish during? 

 their denataiit drift to the shallow<s- Most of these traps float, and 

 swing round with oat-li tide so as to take toll both with the ebb and 

 the flow. 



An ex a mi nation of the contents of these traps shews tJiai in 

 addition to immature fisli, which any Malay iisherman will tell you 

 aJ^ the fry of vahiable food fish, the bvilk of the catches are made 

 up of feeble, a>ttenu<ated, small-headed larvail-like fishes which the 

 Ma lave call Bunga ayer and to which they attach no value. 



There can lie little douljt that soientifio investigation will prove 

 that tlie Bunga ayer are valuable food-fisli in the Ijeptocephalus 

 stage. 



This subject has been treiated at some len<,H:h beoause of its 

 great economic importance and Ijeeause the (juestion,* raised cannot 

 be anfiiwered except by a specialist in marine biology. 



Though myriads of larval and immature fish are cauglit daily 

 for duck food J pig food and manure, and thousands of pikuls are 

 exported as dried fish refuse, it has been argued, while adnutsting 

 amhai catches are used mainly as pig food* that it appears a 

 debatable } joint whHlier the deflh value tii us ■ produced is no't aa 

 groat as the extra h^li value which might be cauglit if the fry killed 

 bv amhai were left undisturbed! 



We cajmot afford to allow such points to remain debataJjle. 



Let us go on with the life history of tiie tiny fisli wiiich w© 

 left an tlie first stage of an active existence in the s^haJlo^' waters 

 near tlie coast. These gihallows are the nurseries or recruiting 

 grounds where the fry keep together in schools or iihonls. 



"After a period in relatively shallow water, the slioal 

 migrate;^ to deeper wat*r, At first the niigration is not to a 

 great distance, but with growth the annual pulsation becomes 

 greater and gi-eater. 



