In seach of the 2nd smallest fish in the world

[kuching]

Paedocypris micromegethes is the second smallest fish in the world.

A day after I quit my job, I went to search the type locality of the tiny fish with my friend, John.

In this trip, we found out a lot of natural habitat have been destroyed by the Humans...but luckily, we found a secret blackwater stream which is full of fish....the first time in my life seeing so many beautiful fishes in a stream!!! The most amazing stream I ever found in Borneo....totally undisturbed & unpolluted blackwater stream in the peat swamp of the central Sarawak.



Sibu town of Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. We're staying in this town for our 3 days fishing trip:






Paedocypris micromegethes




Sundadanio axelrodi .....one of the tiny fishes from the peat swamp of Borneo.





.......to be continued.

[hwchoy]

hey the axelrodi, which variant?

[kuching]

hey the axelrodi, which variant?

bluish + greenish.

[Jervis]

I see a Raflesia in your avatar too... I have never seen one in my entire life

[BFG]

I see a Raflesia in your avatar too... I have never seen one in my entire life

I believe you smell it 1st before seeing it.

[Jungle-mania]

Kuching, are you in any science field or research?

[kuching]

Kuching, are you in any science field or research?

No, I'm just a hobbyist. mY job is something to do with accounts....& soon I'll be a freelance photographer.

[kuching]

After 6 hours of driving, we reached a blackwater stream near Sibu. The peat swamp is full of blood sucking mosquitoes. It's not a pleasant site to collect some fishes for our aquarium. However, we're shocked to find out, the fish is found abundantly there. Less than half an hour, we found almost all the beautiful tropical fish which can be found in the peat swamp of Sarawak!

The undisturbed blackwater peat swamp (water is acidic):






Collecting fish on a fallen tree:





Betta akarensis (wild fighting fish):





This swamp is infested with thousand of mosquitoes!




Most probably Crypt yujii in submerged condition:

[kuching]

Most probably Cryptocoryne yujii



emersed condition:






Sundadanio axelrodi (colour is not showing up; under stress)






Bumblebee catfish (Leiocassis sp.)





2nd smallest fish, Paedocypris micromegethes (length = less than 1cm)





....to be continued.

[kuching]

Please take note that the bumblebee catfish is called Nanobagrus fuscus.

[doppelbanddwarf]

Wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

[Fei Miao]

Hi Michael, really envy you having such biodiversity of wildlife in your backyard, makes me want to visit Kuching again...

[Jungle-mania]

Wow, hate to say it, but you are really in the wrong line of work, you should have gone to science and field research, I think you could put some scientists to shame with your passion and effort.

[kuching]

Thanks, I may work as freelance photograher soon.

[kuching]

On the following day, we went to check out ablackwater stream at a disturbed Kerangas forest. Not much fish there but we're suprised to catch a few Paedocypris micromegethes. This tiny fish is more common than we thought!

2nd location of our trip:





Pikehead (Luciocephalus pulcher). This is a predatory fish!





After half an hour later, we moved to 3rd location.





Found Cryptocoryne again & I think it is probably Cryptocoryne pallidinervia.






Blyxa sp.






A fish trap set by someone. The bait is the oil palm fruits.

[kuching]

Collecting fish.





Betta brownorum









4th location: this is the type locality of Paedocypris micromegethes near Mukah. Unfortunately, the habitat is badly disturbed & we couldn't find this fish anymore! However, we saw a big population of Cryptocoryne cordata var. zonata :




A fly (pollinator??) on the spathe (flower) of Cryptocoryne cordata var. zonata :




Cryptocoryne cordata var. zonata :

[kuching]

The leaf of Cryptocoryne cordata var. zonata :





The spathe:




Cyrtosperma sp.






Barclaya motleyi:




The flower of Barclaya motleyi:

[kuching]

Batang Balingian (Balingian river):




At the last location near Sibu before going home, we caught a cute little catfish which is most probably Parakysis grandis, a new record for Sarawak.






Sundadanio axelrodi




Paros. allani




Catfish (Kryptopterus macrocephalus):

[kuching]

Tiny fish, Paedocypris micromegethes (adult size):






All fishes are packed into an ice box (ice is keep in a smaller ice box, no direct contact with the plastic bags contain the live fish). The fatality rate is very low. Only 2 or 3 fishes are dead by the time we reached home, after 6 hours later. Some fishes are kept in breathable bags.






Say goodbye to mighty Rajang river, the longest river in Malaysia:







On the way back, we saw an "injured" transformer! Shall we help him?





THE END.

[Aquaculture]

Thanks for the photos. Make me feel like I'm there... a little escape/holiday from this cramped environment we call office.