Philippine fresh water fishes

Title

Creator

Aunt Julia

Language

English

Year

1936

Subject

Freshwater fishes

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

[This article features the fresh water fishes in the Philippines such as Mudfish, Climbing Perch, and Catfishes.]

Fulltext

64 THE 7NG CITIZEN March, 19-'16 Aunt Julia's True Stories Philippine Fresh Water Fishes The Mudfish or Dalag THE most important true fresh-water fishes arc mudfish or dalug. climbing perch or martinico, and the catfish or hito. and kanduli. The dalag is the most highly prized of che freshwater fishes. It is well known-as it is found throughout the Philippines. It is very much liked by people in Central Luzon, but it is not eaten by many Visayans and Bicolanos. It is not so popular because of its dark gray color and because of the fact that it is found even in ponds and mudholes. But its flesh has a fine flavor if the fish is thorough I y cleaned and well prepared. Ask your mother ho\\' she dresses the dalag. Does she simply remove th~ scales? How is the skin whitened? It is generally believed that two broad scales under the fins, when not removed, give a strong fishy smell to the cooked dalag. Find out if this is true.. You obtain dalag from the market strictly fresh. When your mother buys a dafag. what does the seller do before the fish is handed to your mother? Dalag boiled in water with ginger and white squash. p:xhay, or upo makes' a ·.Very popular dish among the Tagalogs and Pampangos. It is eaten with tomato sauce mixed with a kind of soya bean cake called mis6. Ha Ve you tried it? Dalaq is different from other fishes in chat it does not breathe by the gills alone. Do you notice a cavity or hollow space in its head? The fish goes to the surface of the water for air. It is taken into the cavity. Dalag are very hardy: that is, they can live under unfavorable conditions. Sometimes they travel through wet grassy or muddy ground until they reach ponds and flooded rice fields. The widespread belief thlt they are buried under sun-baked mud is not ·true. How· is dalag caught in your locality? The Climbing Perch or Martinico The martinico has become famous because of it;; ability to live out of the water. to move about on the land. and even to climb.the rough trunk of ccr· tain palms. The flesh is good, but the fish is small and has many hard hones It therefore does not command a good prici.>. Like the dafog. the climbing perch -cakes in air through the cavity in the head and through the gills. It can live even. in semi-liquid mud. It is said that it can stay out of water as long as six days if kert in a moist earthen jar. The Catfishes Hito is a catfish that lives only in fresh water. Why do you think it is c<1lled catfish? It is not very popular because of its slimy skin. It has to be thoroughly cleaned and carefully prepared. The kandufi is another catfish. It is found in both fresh and salt W<!-tcr. Many people have a ~crong dislike for kanduli. Find , out why·. In many places far from the sea, h_owever. these .freshwater fishes are the only fish that can be obtained fresh. ·· LEARNING THE USE OF NEW WORDS Find- out if you rcmcmbl'r the words you learn rd last month by supplying the names of the object~ in this story. Every night. m~' sister t<ik~s a warm bath. She wr<Hs a fresh night gown which she gets from her - - - - . Then she sits before her----. She looks <tt herself in the -----. She passes a - - - -·- through her hair. She uses a --- - - - i"tterwJrds. \\Tith .1 ------she powders her face. She files her nails with a - ---·. While filing her nails, she notkes that her hair falls over her eyes. So she gets a -· and clean<; her hair for a while. then she braids it and puts it up with the help of a - - - - and a----. After chis. she gzts a book from her - - - - and reads for an hour. She cakes care that the light from the clectnc - - - - passes her left shoulder. The pink - - - - of her lamp softens the light. At ten o'clock. she goes to bed.

pages

64

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