Seeking the Elusive Etroplus canarensis

A layman would say “Etroplus canarensis eh! What is it?” Etroplus canarensis is a little known diminutive, elusive and rare cichlid, one of the only 3 species of cichlids found in the Indian Sub- continent. It’s cousins Etroplus suratensis – the Green Chromide and Etroplus maculatus the Orange Chromide are better known. E.canarensis – known as the Banded Chromide named after the distinctive dark bands that crisscross it’s body, is referred to locally as “Eli Meenu” – Eli = Rat, Meenu = Fish, after it’s mouth which looks like the tip of a rat’s snout.

The domain of the Etroplus canarensis was thought to be restricted to the Kumaradhara river near Mangalore on India’s South Western Coast. All previous sightings were reported in the Kumaradhara river near the coast at approximately 50 kms from the sea, where the river enters it’s delta and widens from a narrow raging mountain torrent during the monsoons to a majestic river. The Kumaradhara is a tributary of the slightly larger Netravathi river. Both originate in the Shiradhi Ghats area of the Western Ghats and the confluence occurs at Uppinangady about 50 km from the Port of Mangalore. The Shiradhi Ghats area has an Elevation of about 809 meters above Mean Sea Level (MSL).

The annual rainfall in this area is an awesome 4.5 meters per year.

This area is covered with lush green vegetation and is a delight to drive through. The Western Ghats has been designated as one of the 19 Bio-diversity Hot Spots in the world by the UN. This little explored area has a lot of surprises as yet unknown to man.

The interest to look for the E.canarensis was triggered by an innocuous posting in the Forums of www.indianaquariumhobbyist.com, about the high price these fish commanded in Europe and USA. Other members chipped in with how they found this fish difficult to keep in Aquariums and the fact that no one in the world has as yet bred this fish in captivity. This generated a lot of interest in me to look for the missing trigger to breeding. Where would this trigger be found? Only in the natural habitat of the E.canarensis. So began the preparation for a collection and habitat study trip to the Domain of the Ratfish. Hobbyists from across the country envisaged their readiness to join us on this study trip. Co-ordinating transport and accommodation would be a problem but did not actually turn out to be one as a number of hobbyists from Bangalore offered free transportation to outstation members in their vehicles. The Accommodation part was taken care of by Trevor Menezes and Nayak who made a couple of recce trips to secure us confirmed air-conditioned accommodation at the Temple Guest House in the pilgrimage town of Subramanya. With this out of the way, now came the most difficult part of finding out the locations where these fish are found. Enquires with the locals around Subramanya, Uppinangady and other villages revealed that they knew of the Eli Meenu, but they had absolutely no interest in it.

Armed with the information that the E. canarensis did range in these parts, the final preparation for the trip was made. The programme was to first check out Uppinangady and other known places of occurrences in the Kumaradhara river, drive back and halt at Subramanya and then continue our search the next day. The dates were agreed on for 7th and 8th of May 2005. We were to assemble near the Hyper Market, Metro, at Yeshwantpur in Bangalore at 5:00 AM and start our trip.

My car with Siddharth my 12 year old son, Trevor, Adip and Karthik was the first to arrive at Metro. Siddharth joined me on this trip as it was his summer vacation and cornered a 8 X 6 inch hand net for himself. This led to my wife taking a bet with him that he would not catch one single fish on this trip. Everyone on this trip was out to ensure Siddharth won the bet. Did he win the bet? Read on ! With almost all the Fish Seekers assembled at Metro we departed Bangalore at about 5:30 AM, the others would catch up on the drive.

After an uneventful 180 kms of high speed driving we stopped for breakfast at Kamat’s on National Highway 48 (NH 48).

Another break for coffee in the Western Ghats, where the males held court, repairs to my car’s AC and Ravi checking out his 4 x 4 here, we continued on.

Now the Chennai guys had confirmed their participation a bit late, so we were short of accommodation for about 4 people, there was now a change of plans and instead of driving straight on to Uppinangady we decided to check-in at Subramanya and secure our accommodation before any Fish Seeking. Being the eternal fish seekers, we stopped off well before Subramanya at the first promising location on the Netravathi River. Now, this fish has never been reported found in the Netravathi. It’s always been the Kumaradhara, and this point was about 35 kms upstream of the wrong river from Uppinangady. Anyhow, we stopped under a blazing sun and got down to the river. Location 1: Netravathi River. GPS Position: N 12o 49.573’ E 75o 34.212’ Altitude - 460 feet above mean sea level. pH = 6.5 Water Temperature - 32.6 Deg C at Noon. TDS - 50 ppm Conductivity- 94 microsiemens Kh - 2 degrees Gh - 2 degrees Fish fauna detected along with E.canarensis: Etroplus canarensis Puntius mahecola Puntius fasciatus Garra mullya Noemacheilus triangularis Danio malabaricus Esomus danricus Parambassis wolffii Tetraodon travancoricus Rasbora daniconius Barilius gatensis Hypselobarbus jerdoni Hyporhamphus limbatus

The first job in hand was to spot the E.canarensis here and everyone huddled silently along the banks on the rocks and under the bridge looking for the prize. After a while of sitting silently, up went a whoop of joy! “ It’s here !!”. We had spotted the E. canarensis. Here ????? In the wrong river????????? So far upriver of the last known sightings? I couldn’t believe it. The glorious Eli Meenu was there for all to see - King of his Domain - the only cichlid in these waters.

Nibbling away at the awfuchs attached to a piece of driftwood.

I will now add more pictures of the E.canarensis in it’s natural habitat for your pleasure and leave you to enjoy them.

The 2 juveniles in the above and following pictures were boldly foraging around for food, ready to dive for cover at the slightest hint of danger.

Pristolepsis marginata and E. Canarensis roamed in harmony with the melon barbs.

They were a persistent duo once they spotted food and would twist about and find their prey.

As this sequence of photos illustrates

Here’s the larger picture of the shallow pool we found these juveniles in.

This pool was about 18 inches deep maximum and full of rocks as you can see.

A huge tree that had been washed away in the previous monsoon and got wedged between the pillars of the Bridge.

Puffers too were seen here

As were a number of other species like Barbs and Danios.

Madan recording the water parameters. Thereafter came drama, Ravindran who had walked barefoot into the river stepped on a piece of glass and suffered a deep cut in his foot. He was administered first aid taken to the nearest doctor in Subramanya and had 5 stitches put in.

Shankar doing Doc duty.

After a few minutes of Doctor play we went and found a real doctor and his clinic.

With Ravindran all sewn up, it was time for lunch and a short break.

In the late afternoon we continued with our search and landed up at this spot Location 2 – Kumaradhara River GPS Position: N 12o 40.796’ E 75o 36.805’ Altitude - 493 Feet above Mean Sea Level. pH = 6.5 Water Temparature - 33.1 Deg C at 1800 hrs. TDS - 40 ppm Conductivity- 85 microsiemens Kh - 2 degrees Gh - 2 degrees This spot is almost 55 km upstream of the last reported occurrence of the E.canarensis on the Kumaradhara.

The search began immediately. While I started recording the water parameters, Sriram and Ravi went about taking photographs. I joined them once I completed recording the details. Siddharth in the meantime went about his bet with mom. Beta and Karthik went up with the whoop “ It’s here!” this time around.

Siddharth was all concentration trying to spot a willing fish.

This area had a rock strewn bottom and places were covered with leaf litter.

We spotted numerous E.canarensis here adult & juvenile, but they were too fast to catch.

Each dip of the net brought up puffers. Siddharth finally netted himself a puffer and won his bet with mom. The guys promptly named the fish siddharthensis. The fish fauna found in this location along with the E.canarensis: Puntius mahecola Pristolepis marginata Garra mullya Danio malabaricus Tetraodon travancoricus Rasbora daniconius Barilius gatensis

Algae infested waters where the E.canarensis thrived. We left this spot and some of the chaps were interested in getting back to the hotel after a tiring day. Trevor now insisted on a bit of night fishing to separate the men from the boys.

So on we went back to the first location on the Netravathi river. Here Trevor found a fisherman willing to help us. Fisherman Joey tried his luck netting us a few E.canarensis. We found we were better off fishing on our own.

Some indulged in car talk while fisherman Joey cast his net.

We returned back to the hotel for dinner and sleep. The next morning we had decided to try catching a few E.canarensis at the first location on the Netravathi, Joey had promised Trevor he’d be there after attending church. A few guys wanted to try out Uppinangady so off they went at 6:30 AM but searched short of Uppinangady along the Netravathi river. They found:

E.maculatus E.suratensis Aplochelius sp. P.mahecola P.filamentosus P.aurilius On the way back they sighted some Lagenandra sp. Growing in the ditches.

They returned by 10:00 AM back to the hotel, in the meanwhile the others had rested, broken fast and packed all the fish we had collected the previous day. We now left for a final try to net a few more fish before returning to Bangalore and home. Nag with a few guys left early in his car to look for Aquatic plants, and ended up spotting E.canarensis in numbers and netting a few about 1000 meters upstream of the Kumaradhara we had visited the previous evening. He brought home about a dozen. Meanwhile the rest of the gang having not found Joey, ended up at this spot about 1000 meters upstream of Location 1 on the Netravathi.

This path led to this beautiful spot.

Once here seeking the E.canarensis began in earnest

A whoop of Joy went up again after which photographing the location became the prime concern.

This pristine spot with flowing water was a sight for sore eyes.

Adip and Madhu laid a well-planned trap only to be outwitted by the wily E.canarensis.

Having abandoned the previous plan, guys took to herding the E.canarensis

Only to be outsmarted again by the cheeky fish.

Nayak somehow managed a smile after being done in by these primitive life forms.

The guys were as persistent as the fish and were bent upon netting a few - the sequence below shows their attempt

The ratfish proved too smart for these city dwellers, who got a mouthful from Sriram on the Right for letting the fish get away. After a hour of trying we were able to net a few juveniles. Here’s a sequence of photographs showing how the guys did it.

Happy at the end of the trip, we packed all our equipment and headed back to Shankar’s home in Bangalore. We made it back in time to watch the last 10 laps of the Spanish F1 GP.

A few bites of food and it was time to head for home with the wonderful feeling of a successful trip under our belts. Shankar and his daughter Devika bid us goodbye.

This ended our trip seeking the E.canarensis, hope we have been able to bring you the conditions under which these delightful fish live their lives.

All the locations we found the E.canarensis are between 75 - 100 kilometers from Mangalore where the rivers enter the sea. All fish photographed were juveniles. Adults were seen but very difficult to catch. The water depth in both these rivers was not in excess of 4 feet in the locations we searched for the Eli Meenu. I am sure these fish do not breed during the monsoons as the rivers are a raging white water torrent and the waters would be at a TDS of practically zero. The juveniles we sighted were about 4 months old. So the fish breed in Dec-Jan when the water temperature in these parts should drop to about 25 Deg C or lower. Maintaining these fish at the higher temperature of 33 Deg C and gradually dropping the temperature to about 25 Deg or lower over a couple of weeks should trigger spawning. Another option is to drop the temperature and raise it back again to 33 Deg C, if in case these juvenile fish are actually younger than 4-5 months, this would be the temperature variation say in Feb-March. I did read Vinny Kutty’s article in the Buntbarsche Bulletin after we came back from the trip where in he noted and had observed female E.canarensis guarding eggs in December near Uppinangady. He had measured the water temperature at 26 Deg C right above the eggs. What I feel is these fish inhibit and breed in the soft, oxygen rich slow flowing waters well away from the sea and salt. During the monsoon these rivers turn into torrents and these fish are washed closer to the coast and what's trapped there near the coast have been collected previously. Uppinangady near Mangalore is about 50 Kms from the sea and the waters of the Kumaradhara here are by no means brackish. Vinny measured a TDS of 33 ppm, pH of 7.3, and water temperature of 26 Deg C at noon at this location on the Kumaradhara. I sincerely hope that the information gathered on this trip will help a hobbyist somewhere in the world succeed in breeding these wonderful fish. I did not find them in the numbers I hoped to see, but their range extends far more than what has been previously reported and presumed. Their numbers may well exceed all previous estimates. The E.canarensis are fighting for survival, and an estimated population doubling time of 4.5 years is a handicap. Breeding them in captivity will help prevent their capture from the wild and greatly assist their conservation in the wild. To this end I have not disclosed any landmarks or nearby villages/towns where we found the E.canarensis. GPS positions cannot be used by the collectors of these fish in India as they do not have the equipment and knowledge to use a handset. There is very little awareness of or an interest to study this fish at the nearby Fisheries College attached to Mangalore University. This is sad. These academicians are the ones in an ideal position to undertake a year round study. Moreover the information available with a few academicians is misleading, as conclusions have been drawn without sufficient study and data. Well! With the Government of the State of Karnataka planning to divert the Netravathi river in order to irrigate more areas for cultivation the E.canarensis is fighting a lost battle. Happy Fish Keeping! Madan Subramanian Bangalore, India. www.indianaquariumhobbyist.com The water test reports from a NABL Accredited Laboratory are appended below.