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We will forward one to Michael

Borneo Field Trip Diaries - Part VII
Go West!!!

by Michael Lo
of Sarawak, Malaysia
From his website: http://www.ibanorum.netfirms.com
Aquarticles

Collection period: June - July 2004

If my friend Zhou had not shown me the labyrinth fish website, I wouldn't have known there is an undescribed betta species called Betta sp. "Sematan."   I was not sure if the most western part of Sarawak had any betta species or not. I have been collecting fish twice in the Sematan area but I didn'tt find any bettas. No matter how, I must go west again to find this so called Betta sp. "Sematan."

June 7th, 2004
My cousin and I started on another fishing trip. Before we reached the Lundu Ferry point, we went to look for fish in the drains of an oil palm plantation. We did not find anything interesting.

Then we moved on to the Sematan area. We found some swamps and small rivers which looked like habitats of the wild betta but we still could not find a wild betta. Almost giving up hope, I found a strange looking rasbora species....and found out later it was another variant of Sundadanio axelrodi. I also found another colour variant of the bumblebee goby (Brachygobius doriae). Most of the rivers in Sematan are quite short, so seeing different species of goby is very common. (30% of the rivers there are brackish water).

Blyxa species

CLICK ON THUMBNAILS FOR ENLARGEMENTS, THEN GO "BACK."

Sundadanio axelrodi !!!

Strange colouration of bumblebee goby.

Beautiful sea view from Sematan town.

Since we couldn't find any bettas in the swampy area, we headed to some unexplored areas. Lucky me - I found a sandy road built by either a logging company or an oil palm plantation company. Not many tall trees in that area....it felt like exploring the Savanna of Africa.

When I saw a blackwater stream my heart began to throb, because this could be the homeland of wild bettas. We went down to the stream and found Puntius hexazona, Rasbora kalochroma and Rasbora pauciperforata. We moved into a deeper part of that area. There was no human settlement along these roads.....it seemed like a no man's land.  At last we found a beautiful swamp, but still could not find a betta. We turned back home when it started to get dark.

A blackwater swamp in Sematan.

June 18, 2004
We went back to Sematan to collect Sundadanio axelrodi. I was not expecting to find any bettas, and was thinking that the information on the Internet could be inaccurate. It was not easy to collect those Sundadanio axelrodi as they quickly die if out of the water for too long!

Collecting fish is always fun!!!

When we had almost finished collecting I saw a betta fish looking at me, about 1 metre away. Alamak!! That's the betta I'm looking for! I quickly thrust my net into the water but failed to catch it. I believed it was hiding under some leaf litter so I tried a few times pushing my net into the water and ....gotcha! I finally caught a beautiful betta species which I never seen before. I showed it to my cousin and he also said he had never seen this betta before. Since we had caught all the fish we wanted, we rushed back home. The following day I discovered that the betta was a female.

Betta sp. "sematan."  From this colouration, you can see that she was frightened.

The following day she was showing her natural colours.

She was lonely inside this community tank. I must find her a 'husband'!

July 12, 2004
I went back to Sematan to find a 'husband' for that female Betta sp. "Sematan". Zhou joined me this time. In the first half-hour we failed to find any bettas. We decided to go to the upper stream to search, and found two juvenile bettas, but those young fish were not our target fish.

A juvenile Betta sp. "Sematan"

We decided to split apart and move in different directions to search for adult fish. It rained half an hour later. It was a heavy rain. I could not find Zhou. I shouted his name very loudly but still I could only hear the sound of heavy rainfall....nothing else. I went back to the spot where we had left our belongings, and waited under a tree for the rain to stop. After waiting for more than half an hour, there was still no sign of Zhou. I was starting to worry that he could be lost in the tropical jungle, or worse still be drowned in the river.

The rain seemed like it would never stop. I was feeling cold and hungry in the jungle and still had no idea where my partner was! It was my worst collection trip. I was so wet and cold that I decided to get out of the jungle and get shelter inside my car. On the way back to my car I was looking around the area and failed to see any shadow of a man. I couldn't think anymore. I rushed back to my car and prayed that he would find the way back. Half an hour later, he was back and alive....and WET! He had been looking for me too and thought something bad had happened to me after failing to find me in the jungle for more than one hour!

A beautiful dawn on what turned out to be my worst collection day.

July 14, 2004
This was our pay-back time. My cousin joined Zhou and I to explore the remote area of Sematan. After studying the Sematan map we decided to explore another remote area. This time we would all have to hike as the road was too rough for my car. Alas! This was the second day of hiking after coming back from the border of Kalimantan. My wounded left leg was not fully recovered yet.

  
This road was a challenge for any 4WD! We really were an adventurous team!

We passed by a few clearwater streams. It was a hot afternoon. I couldn't stand the heat so I asked to turn back after 45 minutes of hiking. After studying the map again, we decided to walk for a few more minutes, and started our fish collecting. We found a beautiful clearwater stream but too bad, no betta species was found. All the fish we found were common fish.

A common sight in Sematan

A blackwater pond....biotope of Betta cf akarensis "Sematan"

On the way back we stopped at a blackwater pond. Zhou and Methos walked into the bushes to find the water source of this pond. I was taking a nap near the pond .....dreaming that I was in Heaven. More than 40 minutes later they came back to me with a plastic bag. Zhou showed me a pair of wild betta and said; "Betta sp. "Sematan."   But I said this was not the species I had found in the other area.

We studied it carefully and decided that this betta looked like Betta akarensis. What a shock for me to find the akarensis group of bettas (Betta ibanorum) in the western part of Borneo! To my knowledge, the most western part of Sarawak where the akarensis group can be found is somewhere near Matang. The distance from Matang to Sematan is more than 50 km, and in between these two areas is the territory of the pugnax group of bettas. We were so excited at this new discovery! Zhou had probably found a betta species which nobody else had found before. At last we were paid back what we deserved after losing each other in the jungle of Sematan under the heavy downpour!

Betta cf akarensis "Sematan"...a great discovery!!!

Some irresponsible people burnt the forest during the dry season!

A blackwater stream

A road to nowhere. No human settlement along the road.

NOTE: In September 2004 I revisited the blackwater stream of Betta sp. "Sematan" and found a male wild betta. I believe it was Betta cf pugnax which should be the same species as those Betta cf pugnax in Sungai Kayan drainage near Lundu.