Barito drainage, Central Kalimantan

[panaque]

I was lucky to get to go on a little expedition into unexplored (from a biodiversity pov at the very least) rainforest in Central Kalimantan for work last month. Unfortunately I couldn't stop to fish in the many interesting looking streams and pools I saw along the way during the long road trip from Palangkaraya to Puruk Cahu and beyond, but once in the forest I did manage to sample the stream by our camp.

This is the Barito river at Puruk Cahu. I believe that the stream I fished eventually feeds into this river, but there are no maps.


Pangasius in the market in Puruk Cahu. Anyone know the species?


That mountain (Gunung Bondang) in the distance is where we were heading. It was about a 3 hour hike through the forest from the end of the road to where we made camp at the foot of the mountain. We made it to the summit too, but that is a different story.


Near a village we came past this pool. I saw fish in there which looked like cichlids to me. One of our local guides confirmed that they were 'nila', aka Tilapia but he said there were also 'lele' in there, which means Clarias catfish.


Our camp in the forest, altitude about 500m.


Our camp was right by this rocky stream, locally known as Pongoniso (there is quite a lot of water flowing between those rocks, honest)


A pool in the stream


and a muddier stream that flowed into the rocky stream


I could see several species of cyprinids and a Clarias catfish in the pools but they were impossible to catch with a handnet. Our guides clearly found my lack of success very amusing but eventually showed me how it is done: Fish at night with a head torch and you can just scoop the fish out (well, they could).

@Silurus
Is this

Clarias anfractus

by any chance? Quite a long way from Sabah...






@racoll (thinking you know your cyprinids, is that right?)
Every pool had one or two of these piscivorous cyprinids (see also picture above), which I think are a Hampala species, but don't seem to match any described ones. The two black bands are really obvious when viewed from above in the natural environment



Also in every pool, and especially in the muddy stream, there were what I think might be saddle barb, Systomus banksi, but I might well be wrong. Again the black marking by the dorsal fin is only obvious when viewed from above...




Then there were also 2 (I think) species of what I call Rasbora but probably aren't. I got one specimen of this one, which has a black marking on the caudal peduncle and a black line at the base of the anal fin




and dozens of this one, which lacks the black markings. This is a gravid female. when handled most expelled either eggs or milt.



In the riffles I also found this little loach. Any ideas?




Finally, there were also at least 2 species of crab


Some fish were returned, but most became dinner, including the Clarias I'm afraid...


Thanks for looking and any help with identifications much appreciated!

[Silurus]

@Silurus
Is this

Clarias anfractus

by any chance? Quite a long way from Sabah...

I don't think so. It looks vaguely like C. planiceps, but with a color pattern more similar to C. leiacanthus. I would just consider it C. leiacanthus for now.

[Silurus]

@racoll (thinking you know your cyprinids, is that right?)
Every pool had one or two of these piscivorous cyprinids (see also picture above), which I think are a Hampala species, but don't seem to match any described ones. The two black bands are really obvious when viewed from above in the natural environment

This is Hampala bimaculata.

[Silurus]

Pangasius in the market in Puruk Cahu. Anyone know the species?

I think this is

Pangasius hypophthalmus

.

[naturalart]

Thanks for the images. Very nice.

[panaque]

Many thanks for the id help Silurus. Difficult to find reliable pictures of the Hampala species online. All the H. bimaculata ones I had seen had the anterior spot level with the firts ray of the dorsal while my ones had more of a band starting just behind the dorsal, which is what threw me.
I will probably return to this spot in early 2014 and I'll try and get better pictures of diagnostic characters of the Clarias that time.

Clarias leiacanthus

does indeed seem the most likely id for now.
Thanks again!

[Shovelnose]

Nice trip there.

Out of curiosity, how does Clarias taste??? I had Mystus gulio recently and found it extremely bland and sort of muddy in flavour.

[panaque]

To be honest, when mixed with lots of chilli and MSG, as is the local habit, everything tastes pretty much the same.

[Silurus]

Out of curiosity, how does Clarias taste?

When done correctly the Indonesian way (pecel lele, which is basically deep-fried Clarias with sides of greens and sauce), it's actually quite good. At least it's firmer than silurids like Ompok.

[Silurus]

In the riffles I also found this little loach. Any ideas?

I think this is some kind of Glaniopsis.

[Shovelnose]

When done correctly the Indonesian way (pecel lele, which is basically deep-fried Clarias with sides of greens and sauce), it's actually quite good. At least it's firmer than silurids like Ompok.

Sounds interesting. The only other catfish I have tasted are Ompok and Heteropneustes. The Heteropneustes was in a village during a field trip. It was pretty burnt and resembled moulded rust but the Ompok was in a small, traditional hotel in Calcutta. It was extremely well made and tasted quite good.

[racoll]

Then there were also 2 (I think) species of what I call Rasbora but probably aren't. I got one specimen of this one, which has a black marking on the caudal peduncle and a black line at the base of the anal fin

Certainly of the Rasbora sumatrana group, but unless someone has studied the rasboras of this drainage (I don't know of any), it's hard to say which one(s) without having preserved specimens. Looks similar to one that I found in the trade, but couldn't put a satisfactory name to.

Also in every pool, and especially in the muddy stream, there were what I think might be saddle barb, Systomus banksi, but I might well be wrong. Again the black marking by the dorsal fin is only obvious when viewed from above.

Another tricky one. I don't think yours is Systomus banksi, as that fish should have a smaller blotch under the dorsal fin. The banksi/binotatus group is in need of revision, and there are probably many local species hidden under these two broadly applied names. Here's what I called P. aff. banksi, but I think this is different to yours perhaps?



If you are interested, I can send you all the literature I have on these species. Just PM me.

[panaque]

Then there were also 2 (I think) species of what I call Rasbora but probably aren't. I got one specimen of this one, which has a black marking on the caudal peduncle and a black line at the base of the anal fin

Certainly of the Rasbora sumatrana group, but unless someone has studied the rasboras of this drainage (I don't know of any), it's hard to say which one(s) without having preserved specimens. Looks similar to one that I found in the trade, but couldn't put a satisfactory name to.

Also in every pool, and especially in the muddy stream, there were what I think might be saddle barb, Systomus banksi, but I might well be wrong. Again the black marking by the dorsal fin is only obvious when viewed from above.

Another tricky one. I don't think yours is Systomus banksi, as that fish should have a smaller blotch under the dorsal fin. The banksi/binotatus group is in need of revision, and there are probably many local species hidden under these two broadly applied names. Here's what I called P. aff. banksi, but I think this is different to yours perhaps?



If you are interested, I can send you all the literature I have on these species. Just PM me.

Many thanks Racoll! Glad to see I wasn't to far off with my id's. Your P. aff. banksi looks pretty similar to the ones I found actually. I'd much appreciate it if you could send me the literature. I'll send you a pm shortly.
What I should have mentioned as well is that I later discovered a 10m high waterfall downstream from where I sampled (near the village). I would expect this to be quite a barrier to upstream geneflow...