My first fishing trip in China

[kuching]

April 4, 2008. It was public holiday in China. 3 of us; Mr Tree (Zhou Hang), Yellowman (Huang Bao Ping) & jungle mike (Michael Lo) decided to explore the river system in north eastern part of Guangdong province of southern China.

Due to some reasons, I do not want to disclose the places that we went but I will write down the names of nearby towns.

It was a cool & misty morning. We took the bus from Shenzhen city to a small town called Haifeng. There, we took a motorcycle taxi to a village.

Mr Tree went there before, about 2 years ago. When we reached the 1st location, he was so very upset because the stream was used to covered by evergreen broad-leaved forest of the subtropical zone. But now, it's gone!!!


Haifeng town.





On board the motorcycle taxi:






Destruction of paradise on earth !!!!





We're so disappointed to see this....a polluted stream!!!

[kuching]

After walking for a few minutes to the upper stream, we found a good spot to collect fish.





Mr Tree is the 1st to jump into the freezing water. Compared to the water in my homeland (Borneo), the water over here is very cold, probably 14 degree Celsius (?).






I was so happy to see this cute hill stream loach which looks very similar to the Borneo sucker fish from Borneo. This loach is called Pseudogastromyzon laticeps.











And, Mr Tree suddenly screamed so loud......everyone was shocked. He found the beautiful dwarf catfish called Pseudobagrus trilineatus for the first time!!!






....to be continued.

[kuching]

As I was feeling down because of the emotional (girl) problem back home, I didn't collect fish in this trip except taken photos most of the time.

After taking our lunch in a restaurant, we continued to walk to down from the stream to a bigger river. There, Mr Tree showed me some beautiful fishes that I never seen before.

Then, Mr Tree trying to find the location where he found Cryptocoryne crispatula var. crispatula (aquatic aroid) about 2 years ago.....but he couldn't find it. It was getting late, we got another half an hour to search the Crypt before we called a day off.

I was busying photographing the insects in the bushes & suddenly Mr Tree shouted "Cryptocoryne" very very loud... (in Mandarin language) I jumped up and quickly ran towards the bushes. I saw a beautiful stream behind the bushes.....and unbelievable.....I saw Cryptocoryne crispatula var. crispatula for the first time in my life!!!! At that moment, I forgot all my problems back home....& all of us screaming & jumping in the stream like a group of crazy people....Ha!ha!ha!




Collecting loaches & gobies in a river near a restaurant:







In the late afternoon, we're trying to find the habitat of Cryptocoryne crispatula var. crispatula ....there's a stream behind the bushes. Mr Tree turned left to check it out....





And, he found Cryptocoryne crispatula var. crispatula in a new spot!






What a beautiful aquatic aroid!






The beautiful leaves (submerged in the water):

[kuching]

The habitat (fast flowing stream):




Submerged condition:






The rotten spathe (flower):






Beautiful Crypt.!!! (all in submerged condition)






Other photos.....

grasses:





Cute puppy:







.....to be continued.

[kuching]

After dinner, 3 of us went to a nearby river to check out the gill net that we set up not long ago before sunset. As the air temperature was dropping slowly, we needed to wear jacket.


Mr Tree is checking his gill net:






Zacco platypus





Zacco platypus in its natural habitat.






Opsariichthys bidens





Rasbora steineri

[kuching]

Parazacco spilurus spilurus







Freshwater shrimp (Macrobrachium sp.)






Apple snail (Pila sp.) - Apple snail is a pest. This snail also can transfer a type parasite called Angiostrongylus cantonensis to Humans.






Common tree frog. (Polypedates megacephalus)






The mating beetles.





.....to be continued.

[Aquaculture]

Wow! Couldn't wait for more of your sharp photo journey.

[kuching]

Wow! Couldn't wait for more of your sharp photo journey.

Ha!ha! thankyou. More coming up.....

[K11]

Wah! very nice!!!

[juggler]

Wow, Mike -- this is a nice photo journal.
Will wait for your "continuation..."

[kuching]

Yes, still got tons of photos to post!

[michael lai]

Great field report! unfortunately I never have the time to go exploring the number of times I've been there. Guangdong that area always projects to me an industrial area as the sky is literally covered with soot everyday...

[kuching]

Great field report! unfortunately I never have the time to go exploring the number of times I've been there. Guangdong that area always projects to me an industrial area as the sky is literally covered with soot everyday...

Yes, not many nice places to look for fish or water plants.....most of the rivers are polluted!

[MrTree]

In Guangdong, need to travel very far to a good fishing spot.....but there are still good places around.

[keithtang]

That's a nice fishing trip....the Crypts are beautiful..

[kuching]

On the third day, we hired a local kid to be our guide to climb the mountain at the village where we took our lunch. Half an hour later, 3 of us decided to stop climbing as there is no big tree or stream along the trail. We could not find any interesting flora & fauna in this type of forest, so we went to visit a waterfall next to a Chinese temple. There, we found the carnivorous plant of China .....the sundew!


The mountains of southern China.





Evergreen forest.





The forest:





Unidentified species of flower:

[kuching]

Sundew (most probably Drosera spathulata)










The larvae of a species of beetle:

[kuching]

In the afternoon, we went to catch fish again.

Schistura fasciolatus





Shrimp (Caridinia sp.)






Forgot the name.....(???)





Goby (Rhinogobius duospilus)




Goby (Hypseleotris compressocephalus)

[kuching]

Hill stream loach (Pseudogastromyzon laticeps)





Oryzias latipes






Small water snake (Opisthotrophis sp.)





Carnivorous plant (Utricularia sp.)

[kuching]

Around 3pm, Zhou Hang found the fish which I'm looking for ......BLACK PARADISE FISH (Macropodus hongkongensis)!!!!


The spot where Mr Tree caught the fish.




Macropodus hongkongensis. This fish is named after Hong Kong.






We walked further down the stream & we found the BIGGEST population of Cryptocoryne crispatula var. crispatula (another location)!!!






Mr Tree is photographing the spathe (flower) of Cryptocoryne crispatula var. crispatula (above the water surface).