From a hobbyist point of view, Tranquebar is a really awesome place to collect in. It happens to be the type locality of Ompok bimaculatus, Neotropius athernoides,Mystus vittatus and a few Gobies too.
The rest of the team left on Friday (29th July '11) evening and reached Karaikal, a small town 'bout 15kms before Tranquebar by around midnight. I had an an exam on Friday and hence could leave only on Friday night. I couldn't get tickets in a deluxe bus so had to go in a normal crappy run down pile of junk which was probably made in France during the French Revolution.
Two uneventful journey's later, we met at around 6 am on Saturday.A heavy breakfast later, we followed our guide onto the first spot.
It was between Karaikal and Tranquebar and also somewhere between a river and a cess pool. Only for the truly adventurous or those who have had their TB shots.
We sighted a Goby and and managed to collect a catfish from a small pool of water. This pool had hundreds of these cats swimming around. These were 'bout half an inch in legth and looked really emaciated.
A bad pic to show size when it was collected.I assumed this was an Ariid when first collected. This one has grown to close to two inches since then and has been ID'ed (here on PC) as Mystus gulio.
We then headed to the second spot which was much cleaner.
The second spot.
And the first few swipes bought out a Mystus Sp!!!!!! All of 'em were betwen an inch and two in length (TL). Other fish collected from here were an Aplocheilus Sp, Anabas testudineus, Pseudosphromenus cupanus and a few crabs.
A few kilometres down, we tried collecting again and landed a few Gobies. There were some other fish but only Gobies were collected here.
Crab from this spot.
We then decided to head to Tranquebar directly. The guide suggested we try at a place where the Cauvery runs into the sea.
Home of the Mystus vittatus. Anyone notice the spelling mistake???
This spot was a few hundred metres away from the beach. En route we saw a small drying pool with a lot of fish trying to swim out.
Hyporhamphus limbatus
Thryssa Sp (???)
Whatever was left of the Cauvery.
Goby from this spot. We lost our photo tank and a large seine at the first spot. So back to using hands to take pictures.
Aplocheilus Sp . A.parvus or A.blockii
Fishing Eagle???
A hermit crab.
The Danish Fort / Museum
Translation anyone???
It was 3 pm by the time we were done with this spot and we were feeling a bit peckish.
A few of us were vegetarian and a few others were with carnivorous intents. Needless to say, I belonged to the former category. So we split for lunch.
Not the five start kind but suited our expectations perfectly.
The kitchen.
Bon appetit. Chicken laced with pepper.
Found a small fish market near where we ate.
Secutor ruconius
ID needed.
ID needed.
ID needed.
The South Indian version of a Cuban cigar. Rolled in a tobacco leaf. If these ever came out in packs, the warning on the cover should be pics from World War II or the Balkans War. Truly hard hitting.
We then decided to head to more fresh water spots. The first two were not possible to collect in as the river was running in spate.
The third one was ok but the water here was too deep to collect in.
The spot.
A Mantis.
We collected Cardinia gracilirostris, an Aplocheilus Sp and Etroplus maclatus here. Not really a joyous spot for diversity but our guide seemed to running outta spots while the Sun God Rah was busy pulling his chariot across the sky.
Luckily, the next spot turned out to be a goddamn gold mine!!!!!!!
The spot.
The catch!!!!!!
A blurry video of the Mystus.
Every swipe bought out atleast 2 or 3 Mystus Sp. There is M.vittatus and possibly another species here too. Some do have a comparatively larger adipose I guess its best to wait till they grow up a bit to confirm ID's.
In 'bout twenty minutes of collecting, we had 'bout 40 specimens!!!!! If this is not a gold mine, then nothing is!!!!
Selected a dozen healthy and decent sized ones to bring back. The biggest one was just over 2 inches in length when collected. They are in a grow out tank now. Being fed FBS,Tetra Bits, Hikari Carnivore,JBL Novo Bits and ANS Sting Ray food.Responding well to water changes and growing fairly well. Will try to take a few pics tomorrow and post 'em here.
A friend then sighted a large fish,ran to collect it,collected it, lifted it and killed it. The fish lasted a FEW SECONDS out of the water. One lift and off it went to push the proverbial daisies.
Hyphoramphus xanthopterus. Had a lovely yellow tinged caudal.
Other than this, we collected some Puntius sarana and Puntius sophore from this spot too.
It was 5pm by the time we were done with this spot and we decided to hit one more spot before we wound up for the day.
The final spot was a well shaded part of the river with decent flow. The substrate was primarily fine sand with plants strewn around.
The spot.
Puntius sophore
A lovely Etroplus maculatus.
Pseudosphromenus cupanus
Channa punctata
The first Clariid I have encountered in the wild!!!!!! A baby Hetropneustes fossilis.
A few lovely eels too. About 2 inches in length. Were a fiery red in colour. That s all I remember of 'em. I am unable to recall if they were Mastacemblus or Macrognathus.
With everyone satisfied with the catch, we decided to wind up at 6pm and headed back to Karaikal. Stopped en route at a bar. This was the Union Territory of Pondycherry. The people pay less for booze than most people in the country.
So I bought this beer called 8 . That is it. Its called 8 and is marketed as Triple Strong Beer. And by god the label speaks volumes of truth. The strongest beer I have ever had. Not much taste wise but packs a wallop. Only for the truly bibulous.
Back in the room, we repacked the fish and left for dinner at around 8 pm. Since all of us (mostly me
) were happy with the collection made, we decided to indulge in a little alcohol.
Another strange name. A slightly more drinkable beer.
The biggest selling beer in these parts.
Our version of Chinese cuisine. A rather localised Chicken Lollipop in the front and Chicken 65 in the back. Both are very popular dishes especially in South India. Go well with liquor.
We decided to try sea food for dinner as it is freshly here.Prawns and some fish. The prawns especially were incredible!!!! Definitely among the best I have had.If I were just a little over enthusiastic, I would have gone on to call this Maine.
There were some political incidents happening across the state on that day. So we decided to leave early Sunday morning and collect on the way back.
Left at around 6 am. The first spot we stopped at was useless. The water was extremely fast flowing and very deep too. The second spot was lovely. Proved perfect for collecting.
The spot.
Mystus gulio
Devario malabaricus
Puntius sophore
Channa punctata
And a few more species that we had collected on the previous day.
This was the only spot we collected in and we headed to drop a friend off en route Madras. Stopped for a small visit to his fish farm.
His Etroplus canarensis set up. I love it!!! 22 of 'em in an eight footer. Nothing complex. Just sand,rocks and some wood. There are four or five pairs now. He finds eggs almost twice a week and has managed to raise around fifty to around an inch.
We skipped lunch and headed straight home.I managed to reach home by 6 pm richer by a dozen Mystus.
This place definitely warrants another trip (I realise I say this after all my trips
). We hardly collected any brackish water fish. Maybe after the monsoons. Most of the spots this time were pools of water.To part with, a coupla recent ones from another trip.
First time for me.This one's not too bad actually.I love the label too. Would fit in perfectly with a Saxon record.
An old favourite of mine.
