The Smallest Fish In The World
Buhi is a small town at the periphery of Camarines Sur, w/c is the emplacement of Lake Buhi, where the smallest edible fish is seen, the goby fish ‘Sinarapan’ (Mistichthys luzonensis). Contrary to common belief, however, sinarapan is not the smallest fish known. Another goby, ‘tabios’ or dwarf pygmy goby (Pandaka pygmaea), also found in the Philippines (rivers of Malabon, Rizal and Palawan) and Indonesia, is the smallest known vertebrate and, like its cousins in Lake Buhi, are an endangered species. ‘Sinarapan’ are a type of goby and they are transparent, except for the black eyes. The fish have an common length of 12.5 mm. Males are smaller than females.
The ‘Sinarapan’ or ‘tabios’ is likely the world’s smallest commercially harvested fish found only in the Philippines, and endemic in Lake Buhi and other areas.
Today, the ‘Sinarapan’ or ‘tabios’ are threatened with extinction due to overfishing.
The study brought out that Sinarapan in Manapao is submitted to a very high total fatality rate to more than 99% per year. This mortality is due to the large predation by Nile Tilapia coming from the net cages established in the sanctuary. The net cages were reportedly set-up in May 1996 by people known to the sanctuary’s caretaker.
While Sinarapan and the Tilapias have coexisted in the lake for numerous years, this was under a condition of ecological balance among the species residing. With Tilapia and their subsequent recruits which are made by those stocked in the cages, the equilibrium condition has been changed in favor of the predators. Studies by BFAR established that Nile Tilapia prey upon Sinarapan. After several hauls (monitoring ended in May to August 1996) to sample Sinarapan using a push-net, the species composition of the catch showed only 3% Sinarapan and the 97% composed of irin-irin (Vaimosa dispar), tilapias and assorted gobies. This report had not been obtained during the monitoring studies by BUCF in 1988 and 1994 when almost 99% of the catch of all push-net hauls was Sinarapan. As early as August 1996, the research team led by Prof. Victor S. Soliman warned the Local Government of Buhi of its condition and emphasized its possible disastrous effects to the identified goby’s population if the net cages would not be taken. In February 6, 1996, Prof. Soliman spoke to the town’s municipal council of this urgency to save the species from total loss.
It was in 1979 when Sinarapan in Lakes Buhi and Bato near-totally vanished due to over-fishing by motorized Sarap which also destroyed the breeding, feeding and refuge areas of the goby. During Sinarapan’s heyday in the 1940′s to 1960′s, no one seriously considered of the ruinous turn of events the fishery would be in a couple of decades later in 1987, the stock of Sinarapan in Lake Katugday, a 2.65-ha. lakelet situated a kilometer northeast of Manapao, was took of its fish stocks, including Sinarapan, because of a chemical pesticide applied by a villager who wanted an easy catch of the larger fishes. These are clear lessons of mis-management which should have taught concerned entities to be pro-active, if only they are really concerned.
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