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2700 Ornamental Fish and Aquatic Sketches
"New Edition of Ornamental Fish Disease Atlas"
By Heiko Bleher (Italy)
Translator: Wang Zhongjing (Taiwan)
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I haven't been to the Aru Islands since 2007. I caught some new species and introduced them in The 19th issue of Amazon magazine. In 2013, I was given a third chance to search for rainbowfishes in this remote area.
Late one night in 2012, when I was writing an article about fish in northern Australia, I received an unexpected phone call from Gerry (Gerald R.) Allen）。 He said: "Heiko, Mark Erdmann has found a sponsor charter for a two-week diving trip on a Putiraja sailboat and hopes to visit The Misoul and Aru, and I suggest you go along as you are the only one who has been to and know those archipelagos." What do you think? ”
It was a tough decision. I already have Mexico, Iran, Amazon, and a nice trip to India on my itinerary. And I had only left Sauron the day before to fly from New Delhi to Milan. But I couldn't resist, and on January 15, 2013, I found myself on a late flight to Denpasar, Bali Island. There I met Gerry and Chris and we arrived together in Sauron on the morning of the 18th.
Sorong belongs to the Indonesian part of New Guinea and is located at the westernmost tip of the Doberay Peninsula (also known as the Bird's Head Peninsula). From the airport, we headed straight to the heavily polluted pier and were greeted on board by Captain Ken and boss of america, his Indonesian wife Josephine, and our American sponsors, Matt and Pam. We were already hungry as there was only water available on our domestic flights to Bali, so we were happy to receive a full breakfast.
Mark Edman, the coordinator of our trip and the head of Conservation International in Raja Ampa, also arrived that afternoon. Ken lifted the anchor and we sailed south to Salawati and finally to the mouth of the vast Bintuni Bay. The nearly 600-kilometer bay is the largest mangrove area on Earth, but it certainly won't last long – with more than 30 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves here, it will also make it the most lucrative region in the world. I often traveled to and from this bay in the 1980s and 1990s and made landfalls at different locations. Today, you can drive across the continent from Sorong or Manokwari like Hans-Georg Evers.
Taberfane
A few days later we explored the island of Misool, where we collected pattern specimens of the Rainbow Fish for the recently described Melanotaenia flavipinnis, and we arrived at the Virge Hotel in Taberfane, Pulau Trangan, where I started my New Creek Discovery in 2007.
We decided to go there again. In addition to Weber's description of the Pearl Swallow (Pseudomugil gertrudae) in 1911, I also found another beautiful blue-eye species and the iron-blue rainbow fish. The latter is mistaken by some for Melanotaenia goldiei or M. senckenbergianus, but I always call it Melanotaenia sp." Aru IV "Aru IV Rainbow Fish") (locals call all blue-eyed rainbow fish "Gefegete"; gobies "Gorgormila").
New Creek opens a natural waterway from the middle of the rocks. Also under a small waterfall we found Melanotaenia sp. "Sungai Sin" Rainbow Fish, a pair of Melanotaenia sp. "Sungai Sin" Rainbow Fish
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A pair of Melanotaenia patoti from the Galalou River
Josephine and I went to shore in a small boat in order to get a fishing license from Chairman Taberfane. We would also like to hire a tour guide because despite the GPS, I am sure we will get lost in the labyrinthine archipelago. Taberfane has clearly become prosperous, but it still has no reliable electricity. Small shipyards have been set up here as the demand for shark fin soup has increased, so much so that more and more ships are being built in order to catch them. Once a month, Chinese will come and pay the locals about $100 per kilogram to buy shark fin soup.
In order to meet us, The Chairman, Baco Saitian, had to be woken up; he came to meet us an hour later. To my surprise, he spoke some of the English he had learned in Ambon, and I showed him some of the details I had found in the article from New Creek (Aru IV) in Amazon Magazine No. 19. He couldn't believe that there were such beautiful little fish inhabiting here. Not only did he allow us to catch fish, but he hired a man to accompany us to Erersin, near the mouth of New Creek.
Back on the boat, we loaded all the gear into a small boat. Everyone wants to come together to see what I often call the pristine land and its unique natural scenery. Only Ken, Josephine and the crew remained on board.
Through the archipelago of 800 labyrinthine narrow waterways, we arrived in Erersin in about two hours. Just as we were waiting for the guide to find another local guide who could take us to New Creek, some of the women recognized me and welcomed me back.
The journey upstream of New Creek is truly special. Unique rock formations stand on either side of the riverbank, ranging in color from white to dark brown to black, covered with vegetation and trees.
New Creek Sungai Sin
The last time I visited here, I had to walk six hours through the primeval jungle to the source of the new stream, but this time it was completely different. Later in the morning, we arrived at a limestone terrain where it was impossible to go in by boat again. We had to travel along the creek through the water, and in some places the water was as deep as our chest.
We explored the upper reaches of Sungai Sin on foot
Everything in front of us looked different, especially when half a mile later we finally reached a huge rock from which the source of the new stream was pouring out. Over time, the creek has dug a natural channel of about 200 meters from the rocks. On the other side is a waterfall 3-4 meters high. The pristine jungle and river above the waterfall looks like the place I visited in 2007, where I found many beautiful fish, but there is no Aponogeton womersleyi wave grass in the hydrocephalus family, because the karst terrain is everywhere. However, through joint efforts, we also caught the "Aru IV" rainbow fish juvenile among the sharp stones, as well as some beautiful gobies; especially a variant of the deep black-branched toothed tiger (Stiphodon atratus var.). However, we didn't find a single blue-eyed rainbow fish, either a pearl swallow or an unspecified species.
The four of us fished for hours in the clear stream water here. Several times, I slipped on the smooth stones inside the dark cave. However, when I put my net in the water below the waterfall, I caught a colorful rainbow fish! Its back is pale blue-purple , its fins are orange , its fins have broad white edges at the edges , and a large white spot on each leaf of its tail fin. As usual, males are brighter in body color than females.
Although I dived for about an hour with Mark and Gerry, we didn't find a single Rainbow Fish (Metanotaenia sp. "Aru IV")。 We found one species each in the genera Craterocephalus, Glossogobius and Redigobius, as well as a small, previously unseen pond carp of the Eleotridae family. We also found a beautiful shrimp covered with tiny red and white spots. The water quality parameters were pH 8.14, conductivity 98 μS/cm and temperature 28.1ºC at 3:00 p.m. The parameters of the control in 2007 were pH 7.44, conductivity 333 μS/cm, and temperature 26.1°C.
This rainbow fish, which I discovered in New Creek in 1997, has become melanotaenia sp in the mouths of aquarium enthusiasts. "Aru IV"。 They inhabit small waterfalls
Male Melanotaenia sp." Sungai Loramar" shows off the bright orange-yellow longitudinal bands
Female Melanotaenia sp." Sungai Loramar " also has a longitudinal band on a male
A new blue-eyed rainbowfish (Pseudomugil sp.) is caught in an unknown creek
Ngaiguli
When we returned to Erersin it was late, and we were lost in the darkness of the night when we couldn't see our fingers. Luckily, Josephine and the new guide came over and led us through the darkness back to the ship. Josephine had been instructed to our next destination, Ngaiguli, where Hugo Merton and Jean Roux had settled and collected fish in 1907. Sadly, the trip proved to be very difficult, although the place was on the west coast, but it was too far south. A galleon ride is not a good option because the water is too shallow and a storm is brewing. In view of this, Josephine has already chartered shark fin fishing boats. These boats can sail in extremely shallow water and through the big winds and waves we are about to experience.
We left at 4:00 am. After about three hours, the wind and waves began to invade us, and even though we desperately tried to catch it, we were constantly thrown from one side of the ship to the other. When we finally reached the top of the peninsula, it was AL or Kalar-Kalar marked on the map, and the village of Marpen was not marked on any map, and our boat could not go any further. We were told by an Indonesian-speaking local that we could reach Ngaiguli Island via Galalou Creek. Luckily, we brought a 40 hp speedboat with us. Two locals accompanied us through waterways, sometimes through tunnels carved out of boulders washed by rivers washed away over millions of years. Driving the boat here must be very slow and dodge our heads from time to time. It was an amazing journey and I had never seen or experienced anything like this in my life.
After about two hours, we reached the end of the river and continued walking. In front of us is a large prairie, and at the end of the grassland is a stone house built by the military. We then passed through a palm grove and finally reached the source of galalo. Residents of nearby villages once built a boardwalk here. The water here is crystal clear and there are many fallen branches and palm leaves in the water. We immediately saw the huge rainbow fish. First, Gerry took some underwater photos and introduced that there may be two varieties here because they are significantly different.
Near Galalouf Creek we encounter spectacular rock formations
When we had the nets ready, some soldiers leaned over and asked to know what we were doing here and asked if we had a fishing license. Mark said he would appease the soldiers, which was undoubtedly a good idea, because I always lose my temper when I meet the soldiers.
It turns out that we actually found that Webb described Rhombatractus patoti in 1907 was later mistaken for a synonym for Melanotaenia splendida (Peters, 1866). The latter species are described as coming from Australia's Fitzroy River, and the taxa we describe was collected from the west coast of Trang Island, where we are currently located.
The red male Melanotaenia patoti looks prettiest in the dim Galalou River
By the way, the same thing happened in Rhombatractus senckenbergianus Weber, 1911, a species that was later considered Metanotaenia goldiei (Macleay, 1883), although this breed is only distributed in the Goldi River in Papua New Guinea. The two species currently produced in this pattern fit exactly what Weber depicted in 1911. Gerry and I were very happy to solve a rainbow fish mystery (the "official" version will be published in the near future). When Mark used his charm to appease the soldiers, we hurried to take the fish away.
The real Melanotaenia senckenbergianus also inhabit the Galalou River
Alan photographs rainbow fish in the Galalou Clearwater River
Gerald Allen caught this new rainbow fish in the Kobrol River, Melanotaenia sp. "Sungai Kobroor"
Nameless river
The next morning, we sailed north and docked our boat in the bay of Taberfane. From here, we will drive a jet ski to Loramar Creek, where I found beautiful rainbow fish and blue-eyed species in 2007. Mark said he would use his GPS to find the exact location, but I was skeptical. Two hours later we sped through the narrow waterways to the mouth of the river. The river has no name, so we call it the "Nameless River". Remember that you won't meet anyone here; there's not even any sign of human habitation here. Even in the Amazon, the population density is higher than here in Aru.
We then headed down the river and found it difficult to drive a boat through the mangrove labyrinth. Finally, we found ourselves gliding into a water that looked like a carpet of Cryptocoryne ciliata. I put on my mask and dived into the water to see if there was anything interesting here. This is our fourth and final day. As I swam in the underwater forest near the shore, I suddenly encountered gorgeous, dazzling rainbow fish and some blue-eyed creatures swimming quietly near the surface of the water.
Mark and I pulled the long net from underwater. We caught a beautiful freshwater sea dragon (Hippichthys sp.), a blue-eyed creature with bright body and golden fins - Pseudomugil sp. "Sungai No Name" (my seventh blue-eyed class from Aru), and the peculiar Melanotaenia sp. "Sungai No Name" rainbow fish (my sixth species of rainbow fish from the islands of the genus Melanotaenia). In part, it resembles the M. splendida rainbow fish, and this new species comes from the lower reaches of New Creek. It's a great place; hornbills rattling around the canopy of giant trees around us, and the water is clear and warm at 27°C, with a pH of 8.04 and a conductivity of 144 to 319 μS/cm.
Discover this beautiful freshwater sea dragon (Hippichthys sp.) in an unnamed river
This male unknown river rainbow fish (Melanotaenia sp." Sungai No Name") has the variety characteristics of white tail leaves
Heiko Bleher and Mark Erdmann net rainbow fish in an unknown stream
Melanotaenia sp." Sungai Wokam"。 A rainbow fish discovered by an expedition after Gerry Allen, it is a very beautiful fish
Loramar River
We walked along the creek and an hour later we found the hidden estuary of Loramar Creek and we finally reached Algaidan. After meeting the local elders and handing them gifts (Mark always had some rupees at hand), we headed upstream, this time a few miles longer than my last visit. The bottom of the river was covered with stone slabs; apparently, the whole archipelago lay on a huge rock shelf.
Here, once again, we have successfully discovered a new rainbow fish! The only place is that I have ever found the Aru TYPE II rainbow fish (Melanotaenia sp. "Aru II") a little upstream. Gerry took an underwater photo of our newfound fish species. This breed has a wide and very distinctive golden stripe with an equally pronounced black stripe above it. The caudal lobes are white, the dorsal fin is blue, and the fin is bright green.
We also collected samples of Hypseleotris, Redigobius, Craterocephalus, Awaous and Glossamia, as well as a species of seawater Fish. Unfortunately, not a single blue-eyed species was found, even in the small waterfall below, where I once collected this fantastic species. Gerry was also disappointed to find that there were hardly any Pseudomugil species of blue-eyed fish, although I had previously found 6 species in Aru. This time, we only collected one. Our local guide suspects that the culprit may be the flash flood outbreak that occurs almost every afternoon. He said the small fish were likely to be swept away by the flood, and only a few were able to survive in the flood zone, and the fish would recover later. At the very least, that could be an explanation.
Other species
Based on our new findings, the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) is beginning to show interest in the Aru Islands. At the end of 2013, Gerry and LIPI employees searched Aru for eight days and brought back other rainbow fish, the first images in the world to be made public here. They found the fish on the islands of Kobroor and Wokam. Unfortunately, they still haven't found any blue-eyed classes, and Gerry's request to go to New Creek again has been denied. In protest of the Malugu government's permission for 28 Jakarta companies to invest in sugar plantations in Aru, covering an area of 500,000 hectares, more than 70 percent of the archipelago, locals are now banning any man-made visits. We can only hope that these protests will have an effect on the government's policies, because this area is one of the last truly unspoiled paradises on earth.
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