Its cultivation is a considerable industry in the Philippines, the Sandwich Islands and Java, and Day records that, in South Canara, Hyder Ali introduced it from the sea into tanks of fresh and brackish water where it still thrives.
Seale[1] gives a most interesting and valuable account of the cultivation of this fish, which is known by the Filipinos as the Bangos; I quote the following extracts:
"The Milk-fish is one of the most important commercial fishes in the Islands. It is raised chiefly in the fish ponds at Malabon and at other places near Manila and therefore can be secured at any time regardless of the weather.
"This fish is particularly adapted to pond culture being a vegetable feeder of rapid growth.
"The eggs are deposited in the sea. The young appear during the months of April, May, June and July. They are to be found in great numbers along the beaches and are captured by the natives and placed in large earthen jars full of water called palyok. They are then conveyed to the fish ponds, frequently a hundred miles distant.
"One of the jars contains about 2,500 young Bangos. About 60,000 are used to stock one pond of 1 hektare. As the fish grow they are thinned out by transfer to other ponds. Thirty-three per cent should reach marketable size and a yearling should measure half a metre."
FOOD OF THE MILK FISH.
"If it is desired to cultivate the food alga, the water of the pond is allowed to drain off and the clay is exposed to the full power of the sun. The alga rapidly makes its appearance and a little water is then permitted to cover the bottom. This is gradually increased as the Oedogonium develops.
"The average value of the ponds about Manila Bay is probably 40 centavos per square metre, giving a total of more than 6,000,000 pesos for the pond value alone, which I am convinced is a conservative estimate."
There should be no great difficulty in establishing a similar industry in Malaya and there are many mangrove areas on the West Coast of the Peninsula where series of ponds could be constructed.
There are many places where these fish are feeding on beds of sea moss and I saw millions of fry not far from Butterworth recently (March 21st) which a Javanese told me were Anak jangas. The Milk Fish attains a length of 5 feet. It is not often captured as it will not take a bait and will jump over a seine or drift net.
- ↑ "Fishery resources of the Philippines."
