Ecologicord: 2011

Thursday, June 30, 2011

GODP Battery review

In the Search for Portable Juice…

Having posting a few questions on my photography forum at Dyxum.com regarding eBay’s many delicious looking organic Chinese-made branded and genetic aa/ aaa batteries, I decided to take a chance to try them out and placed a few orders for them after no photographers had come forward and inform us that their batteries had exploded or damaged any equipment. It also seems that none of them had actually tried these batteries but their comments were based on the experiences of another user.

For that pricing, I do not expect them to perform as well as established brands such as Sony(s), PowerEx(s), Sanyo(s) or GPs but they should at least be fault-free and usable by at least 65% of what is being written on the labels. So these are the results after they had arrived by standard HK post.

I’m testing Chinese-made batteries with very impressive specs on an un-technical point of view so I’m allowing myself room for experimenting with un-familiar brands.

The eBay batteries started arriving two weeks after I clicked on the ‘Pay Me’ button. Impressive fast delivery for the first vendor! The first package consists of 12 units of GODP “3000mAh” aa batteries. I’m charging them in sets of 4s. However, they would not charge properly … the error light on my smart charger comes up 23 minutes later, the other two sets – 60 minutes later.

Damage Control…

In order to limit damages to my equipment, I am trying them out first on cheap speedlites as a precaution. I managed to squeeze 137 frames on the Yongnuo 460-II Speedlite with the ±ev one bar below full power. That would be quarter of the power of the HVL-F42 Speedlite. On the second last frame, it took 46 seconds for the batteries to power up the flash. Maybe I can still get a bit of work done on the Yongnuo(s) Speedlites at this power since I do not usually use full power.

That’s estimated to be less than 34 blinks if used on the HVL-F42 on full power. That’s not a good start to my introduction of these Chinese batteries.

I Should Have Done This Earlier Before I Made The Purchase.

A search on the Net showed one user wrote that his intelligent charger showed they registered not more than 900mAh. He paid USD 1.25 for each battery whereas I paid USD 0.67 per battery. Another tester reported he only managed to squeeze about 43 flashes during trials against established 3000mAh brands. They calculated based the GODP specs, this battery should be able to deliver at least 200 flashes but sadly their tests for the GODP 3000mAh battery falls extremely short of the target.

The next package to arrive slightly over 4 weeks later after the order was placed was 8 units of BTY aa 2500mAh batteries and a SoShine charger, claimed to have an automatic cut-off power switch. I fitted the batteries on my smart charger… the error light comes on almost immediately. So I switched the batteries to the SoShine charger that came with it.

There was a strong chemical odor when I started charging them so I moved them outdoors and restarted the charging process on a heavy duty extension cord. Cripes…! The batteries have been sitting in the charger for seventeen+ hours before I pulled them out. They were still not fully charged. That’s 34 hours for two sets of batteries, for crying out loud!! I’m now worried about potential fire hazards with the charging process. Anyway, I tested the batteries on the Yongnuo 460-II Speedlite at full power… 49 blinks. That means if they were on the HVL-F42 Speedlite at full power, I reckoned I’ll get just about 24 blinks as the 460-IIs are half the power of the F42s. That’s a bloody expensive battery to juice up.

Look! No Hands!

The seller replied to my email the next day that the SoShine charger’s indicator lights do not turn green when batteries are fully charged… “He hopes I can understand it”. This means this device is a battery charger without even a cut-off timer? I feel like a buyer who just been sold an analog clock without hands.

The third order arrived shortly after the second package and consist of 3 packs of aaa BTY 1000mAh batteries and 3 packs of aa BTY 2500mAh batteries. One can tell almost immediately that they were extremely light. It turns out that the aa battery weights only 13gms each. The aa BTY battery in the second package weighs 24gm each. The BTY aaa battery weights only 7gm against the Imedion (12gms). The vendor tells me to charge them for 12 hours. I opened up 3 packs to charge them up but all of them turned out to be duds on my smart charger. No reason to try out the rest.

I emailed the eBay vendors for solutions. The first vendor suggested I returned them for a full refund or could I accept them for a partial refund? I accepted the batteries for a partial refund because of the time and cost it will take for me to post the batteries back to the vendor. The GODPs are now powering my wall clocks, the rest reserved for low powered appliances like digital weighing scales. They’ll be cheaper to run than on alkaline batteries this month. Still, a small consolation for the money spent here. Anyway, enough experimenting for now.

Conclusion – I’m deeply disappointed with them. All of the Chinese aa/aaa batteries received in these purchases were duds or faulty with the exception of the packs that I have not opened yet. I bet they are duds too. The GOPD, BTY and Chinese genetic brands should be avoided at all cost as they do not match what’s written on the tin at all. The only made-in-China batteries I may use in the future are those backed by established Western brands like GPs and Energizers.

More Feedbacks From Unhappy Buyers At The eBay Forum... something I wish I had come across earlier...

There are quality inconsistencies, safety issues and tons of false labeling by these Chinese battery makers. I popped into the eBay forum by accident and found more feedback on the BTY batteries. Turns out the genetic batteries are even worse. So it was a good thing I did not buy them. These Chinese battery manufacturers in my opinion still have a long way to go before they can produce a product(s) that can compete with the established brands. On top of that, they have to work extremely hard to regain ex-consumer’s confidence with their products.

Can They Dance?

What would prompt me to buy these organic Chinese made batteries in the first place? The Giant has awakened and although well-known in the past for poor quality electrical goods, I have seen some changes and advances in the quality of electrical goods that China has managed to produced. The latest significant event was the launch of a manned craft into space. No nation can sent a man into space with dodgy equipment so it would be correct to presume that the Chinese have finally arrived.

Along with a few electrical goods that I have purchased and good reviews from other photographers on my agencies with such photography equipment like studio strobes, I think it would be timely to test their latest rechargeable battery offerings available on the Internet. Sadly, none of the batteries can deliver… even at this pricing, they are no value for money.

But I do hope China’s future astronauts are reading this page right now because I would really, really hate to be stuck in outer space with these batteries. That ride would be more exciting than Apollo 13.

If anyone is interested to see this article first got started, please visit this link at Dyxum.com...

mAh Battery Ratings

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Seafood of Asia, Part II

Continuing from my last post as more images of local seafood are added; Hope you'll enjoy them!

Click Here To Go To Image at ShutterStock.com

Yum! The End of the Story for the time being.

Click Here To Go To Image at ShutterStock.com

Hidden Creatures in the Garden

Hidden Creatures in the Garden

Mother Nature has her ways to hiding gems in our backyards. Even a potted plant sitting on the window ledge serves as a refuge for tiny creatures such as insects and spiders. Some patience is needed to allow these inhabitants to be photographed. Others are just pure luck when they land right in front of your lens.

Macro photography can be challenging but with the correct equipment, attitude and skills, good quality images can be captured.

Slant Faced Grasshopper

An unusual Golden Grass Cricket with feelers 2 ½ times longer than its own body

A pair of Red Cotton Bugs mating on a wild fruit. A serious pest, they have a long proboscis to bit into plants and fruits, causing serious damages to crops. They have a marking on their wings that looks like the face of a man.

A Common Toad making its way to a cooler place

Long face Long Horn Beetle; another serious fruit pest

The Brown Cockchafer… a destructive medium sized beetle that usually emerges after dusk. This fella flew landed on a Bougainvillea bush, crawled onto an orchid plant and started chewing on a leaf and with a mere few seconds, it has already damaged the edge of the leaf.

A baby Praying Mantis, estimated to be a few days old (12mm long) had stalked out its turf on a lemon Basil bush. Other bushes also had its resident baby Praying Mantis patrolling their territory. About 12mm long, this one turned around and started to observe a few ants straying into its turf. This is a hand-held exposure with Kenko extender tubes, un-cropped.

I like the way the light reflects off the eyes. A 300% crop in negative showing the eyes of the baby Praying mantis.

Friday, April 22, 2011

The Locust from the Seas

The Language of the Locusts from the Sea

As my Soul is my bride to my body

As Christ is the Bride to our Soul

I dreamed that my Soul has departed

A dream whispered in our sleep

The awakened ponders the unforgotten

The sleeping slumbers on

Make peace with your Maker

Tread softly but surely

Sands of time is eroding

A sword held to the side

A bag of coins deadens the pain

Come, wine and dine… the day is short

The truth is bitter

Trumps the bearer of the sword

The victor beats his chest and shouts at the gates of the city

But the mind is of the world

And the sword strengthen by an army

The feast of the flesh beckons

How many more will stay

From the soil comes oil, the wood rots

Tears of the innocent brides rain the earth

The simpleton will pay the price

When the mountains disappear into the seas

Swamps of locust consumes the feast

If the faithful refuses to bow

Sacrifice is never in vain

Gold is refined in the fires

Pain is but a fleeing moment

Sleep is eternal, come swiftly… my Bride

The faithful shall be restored.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

CROAKERS

Asian Seafood… the Asian Croakers

I must confess that my finger was not quite on the pulse of the market when I bought these fishes to photograph. My mind went a big blank when I was handed the bill for these. The local fish mongers were very amused by my reaction. Partially it was due to my childhood memories when these very often were purchased to feed our two Tabby cats, Tommy and Yankee. They were often considered as cheap, trash fishes and the locals often bypass them for other meatier fishes. This must be the first time in my life I purchased them since ‘I molted into an old grump’ ‘;-) and I had expected them to cost about the same as the Indian Mackerel Rastrelliger kanagurta or better known as Ikan Kembong but my expectations had been out of touch.

Whoa… they cost the same price as the medium sized Black Pomfret Formio niger and they were not very large. Well, I guess the locals now must know a good thing when they see one. Often known as the Ikan Gelama, Sang Gay Yi or Jew-fish by the locals, this family of fishes has a number of species and is well distributed throughout Asia to Australiasia. However, the local name ‘Jew-fish’ is not related to another family of groupers known as Jewfishes. Other names for the Jew-fish are Drums and Hardheads.

There are several species that has been officially documented and are important game-fishes and sources of protein. The Soldier Croaker Nibea soldado in the fresh form is one of the most commonly seen species in the fish markets in this part of the country and their average sizes are about ten to twelve inches.

Silver Croaker

The Silver Croaker is the next most commonly seen croakers in the local markets. The Soldier and Silver Croakers are usually popular with hawkers and kopi-tiam¹ food vendors; they are usually slightly salted before being deep-fried.

¹Kopi-tiams are the Asian version of grease-spoon eateries. Most of them are budget food outlets and non-air-conditioned so the inside environment can be quite warm and stuffy at times. Very often, one will find several food vendors offering a wide variety of affordable and cheap hawker food such as the popular Chicken Curry Noodles (shown below).

A Bowl of KL Chicken Curry Noodles. Typically prepared by Chinese cooks, the suntan curry gravy is spicy and creamy. Standard ingredients are boiled potatoes, fried bean-curd squares, blood cockles and some hawkers add char-siew (red-roasted pork) and bean sprouts. A small portion of Balachan Sambal (Shrimp paste chili sauce) is typically offered by the side.

Most of the smaller fishes are considered too bony and are processed into salted, dried fishes by cottage industries or used as animal or fish feeds. When fried to a crisp, the whole salted fish becomes edible including the bones. They are commonly used by food hawkers where it is used in small take-away packets of Coconut Rice or Nasi Lemak Bungkus.

The Black Croaker Protonibea diacenthus can grow to a larger size and specimens up to three kilograms are fairly common. Frequently sold as white meat fish steaks, the flesh is firm, flaky, moist, good quality and free of small bones apart from the ribcage area. When used in curries or steamed, it has a mild flavor and carries the ingredients used in the dish well. A stronger flavor develops when the fish is baked, pan-fried or barbequed; the sweetness becomes more notable. Do not overcook this fish; otherwise the meat will be tough. Black Croakers are in high demand by restaurants and upscale-food outlets.

Home-Cooked Soldier Crocker Fish Curry in Individual Small Bowls, garnished with a sprig of Fresh Indian Dill. The head of the Croakers can be clearly seen in the top right corner of this image. A bowl of hot steamed rice will go alone very nicely with this dish. A Studio Produced Image.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

MINT

The Tame Adventures of an Urban ‘Gardener’

Common name Mint

Latin name Mentha spicata

Native names Daun pudina

Related plants Peppermint, Spearmint.

After needing to purchase small bundles of herbs from the markets whenever I had a product shoot, it dawned to me (Aahhh… finally, the gray matter is stirring…) that I could plant some of these herbs on my window stills and have fresh, perfect plants to use at any time. Looking for herbs in the markets like mint in mint condition (Oops… pardon the pun) is not easy as the fragile leaves easily get withered or bruised during packing, handling and transportation; damaged sprigs of herbs are so unsuitable for photography purposes. Many times, they were simply not available due to the lack of demand and supply in this quiet corner of the country and they delayed the product shoot.

So for my last purchase of fresh mint I chanced upon in the marketplace, I prepared a small pot with soil partially mixed with sawdust, inserted one of the stems into it and moistened the planting media. The plant was kept in the cool shade for a few weeks to allow it to recover. Once the barren sprig of mint started to wing out small sprouts of leaves, it was a sign that the plant had stabilized and ready to be put outside. I prepared a small wire tray and secured it so that strong winds will not knock it off. A liner made from a discarded food container will collect water to keep the soil moist; I placed it in the wire tray and the pot of mint in it. Now it’s ready to take on the world.

This image was taken against a black background in my studio after it had been placed on the ledge for a few days. Water droplets on the plant make it look even more appealing. This is one of my favorite images and sits on my desktop screen for the month. It looks so cooling and refreshing.

The position of the ledge is in cool shade for the first part of the day and gets a strong bath of sunlight during the latter part of the day. The plant seems to love the few hours of strong light as there is a profuse growth of leaves. However, the plant will slightly wilt during these hours if it has been stressed but it will fully recover in the cool evening.

A weak oil-free nutrition solution made from fish emulsion (water that has been used to clean and wash seafood) is used to water the plant every day where possible. Where given quality compost, the leaves can reach a length of 4-5cm and a width of 3-4cm. Mint has a much better visual appeal than peppermint. The plant releases a very nice, minty perfume when the leaves are brushed against.

A bonus for me is that the small plant has grown quite well and I have a truly organic herb also to garnish my meals and teas. I can also use the whole plant as a interesting background subject. It is not very difficult to grow this herb and I would recommend that every passionate gardener, cook, food lover and photographer should have this herb grown in your garden; as I do not have one in the studio, it certain does well on my window ledge.

Several days later, the healthy growth of the mint plant can be seen in the background of this food shot. This image features the Chinese Fried Red Bean Buns. A Studio Produced Image

Now I have added other herbs such as Indian Dill and Chinese Leeks to the window ledge garden; I am now thinking of adding Sweet Basil as well because my window ledge light conditions are suitable for it.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Asian Desserts

A few of my Asian Sweets

Many Asian pastries and desserts are in their very own special class which sets them apart from many classical European desserts. While many European desserts have a strong identity like cakes and muffins with a key ingredient based either on fruits, nuts, custards, caramels, cream or chocolate, many of our local desserts do not fit into that profile. Key ingredients can be seeds, beans, lentils or or even an ingredient by itself like rice. One such example is the Teochew Rice-Within-Rice Cake.

Fried Red Bean Sesame Puffs.

...

A favorite dim sum sweet of Teochew Chinese origins. Best consumed just out from the wok and slightly cooled. The medium thin crust made from glutinous rice flour is crispy with a sweetened red bean paste or mash filling inside. Sometimes, a variation made with mash taro or yam is used instead of the red bean filling. It is fried in hot oil until golden brown. The sesame seeds makes it very aromatic. I could eat this all day long.

For the majority of people be it Europeans or Asians; mentioned a dessert such as a Black Forest Cake and the image comes to mind easily. Mention a Blueberry muffin and again, it bridges many cultures easily.

Now mention a 5-spice Fried Cruller (Ham Chee Peng) to a European and chances are, you’ll get a blank stare. Try a different name and call it “Fried Devil” (Yau Chow Kway; fried cake in Oil in Cantonese which also sounds like Fry the Devil) and his confusion is compounded. Recently a well-known American photographer was shown an image of an Indian ‘Murukku’ snack and his reaction was “What the heck is that?!”

Kuih Penyaram or 'Mexican Hats'

...

A fried sweet dough made with brown palm sugar of Malay origin. The sticky thick batter is spooned with a well-oiled scoop into a miniature wok filled with hot oil. Leavening agents creates the typical dome in the middle and a skewer is inserted into the dome to fish out the pastry once it is golden brown. A very sweet snack that goes well with Teh Tarik or the local coffee brew.

Fried Plantains or Goreng Pisang Rajah.

...

Ripe Plantains or Elephant Tusk Bananas are sliced into thick discs and coated with a batter and deep-fried until golden brown. The crust seals the fruit, prevents steam from escaping and cooks the bananas from within. Very ripe plantains makes for a naturally sweet snack. Very popular for a afternoon snack. Best when eaten hot from the wok. What cares about the diet? Fruit is healthy!

Another culture shock to Europeans and Americans is the usage of chopsticks or fingers to consume desserts. How about another shocker like having a condiment like chili sauces to go with that? Many desserts are also not consumed at the end of a meal but rather as in-between-meal snacks. Typical in-between snacks periods are brunch and late afternoon and of course, the weekends where the diet angel regularly gets banished to the sulk corner and she is welcome back on Mondays.

Bottom line is that Asian desserts are so different in many ways from European desserts and that is a cause to celebrate and eat!

So I would like to start a page(s) to showcase some simple but yummy Asian pastries with the hope that it may create more awareness to the European and American public. This page is on Asian fried or deep fried pastries.

For calories watchers, I’m sorry… this isn’t your page ,;-P

Ham Chee Peng or

5-Spiced Fried Cruller with Honey and Sesame Seeds

...

A chewy, aromatic leavened deep-fried bread of Chinese origins with an inside 5-spices coating and rolled up like a Swiss roll, sliced into thick discs and deep-fried. Very popular for breakfast and snacks especially with the Chinese and Asian communities.

Fried Radish Cake

...

Made from grated white radishes and flour, it is blended into a dough and steamed. Once cooked, the dough is sliced into manageable pieces and fried until brown and crispy.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Pla Salit

The Case of the Headless Fish

Thai Common name Pla Salit, Plat Salit

If Sean Connery pronounces it Flatt Shawl-lit

Food Name Thai Smoked Salted Gourami

Latin Name of the Fish Trichogaster pectoralis

Common Name Snake Skin Gourami, Ikan Spart

Okay, let’s face it… Sean would never eat this stuff… it does not taste like smoked salmon or herring. It will never be in his genes to put this into his mouth. What the heck is this stuff, anyway?

When I was a young baddie laddie, I always thought this was a local salted fish. After all, I used to catch a lot of this fishes in the monsoon drains or longkangs and kept them as pets (Okay, this longkang thingie would be another story later…). I had no idea that it is smoked, only that it had a unique salty flavor to it and was a great condiment for half-boiled eggs, hot steamed rice, congees and durians. Yes Madams and Sirs, place a generous flake of the cooked Flatt Shawl-lit on top of a glorious stinky ripe meaty durian and many durian lovers will swear… it’s just better than sex.

The dried Pla Salit is usually sold as shown above in Asian supply shops. The strong, pungent smell can be overwhelming to those not used to dried-salted fishes and seafood. Store in air-tight anti-rust containers or bags in a cool, dark place.

Trichogaster pectoralis or the freshwater Snakeskin Gourami is a fairly large and common anabantoid fish found in Asia, especially in rice growing regions such as Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia. It favors shallow, slow flowing bodies of water with abundant aquatic plant life. An anabantoid fish that belongs to the labyrinth group of fishes with a unique body organ called the labyrinth chamber, it allows them to extract oxygen directly from atmospheric air.

The Snakeskin Gourami can grow up to 26cm or 10 inches and the male fishes build huge bubble nests during spawning. In Thailand, gourami fries are released into the rice fields after the rice seedlings have been planted and the fields are purposely flooded for a few months until harvesting time. The Snakeskin Gourami which is an omnivorous fish, helps to control filamentous algae which would choke the fields and compete with the rice plants for nutrients if uncontrolled. The fishes also regulate insect and aquatic snail population which would otherwise destroy the rice plants.

In a period of three to four months, the fish would grow to a length of 17-20cm/ 7-8 inches in favorable conditions. About this time, the rice harvest is at hand and the fields are drained and a bonus after the rice is harvested, are the now adult gouramis.

The fishes are collected, beheaded and gutted before heavily salted in successive layers on bamboo trays and stored for weeks under shade. Then, they are placed in kilns and smoked for several hours using dried oily, coconut shells as the smoking media before removed to cool and packed for sale.

To prepare this fish for cooking, clean the Pla Salit by removing the scales and giving it a good rinse in clean, running water. Allow the fish to air-dry for half an hour before frying in hot oil between 220˚C-260˚C until the fish is golden brown and crispy. Nice! It is at its best when it is hot and crispy. It has got a salty, slightly earthy and smoky flavor.

Another way to enjoy it is to add a generous layer of thinly sliced red shallots, sliced red chili as much as you dare, chopped Chinese Parsley, basil or mint, sprinkle a teaspoon of fine castor sugar and squeeze a few ripe calamansi limes onto it; the senses will just be joyfully overwhelming… salty, sweet, sour, spicy, smoky, crispy, herby and stinging from the shallots. What a culinary experience a humble freshwater fish can give.

Fresh Calamansi Limes for sale at an Asian market.
They are also known as Acid Oranges or Limau Kasturi in Malay

The frying of this fish is best done in an open-air space. If you are cooking this salted fish near Sean’s neighborhood or in other parts of Europe, kindly forewarn your neighbors a year ahead or invest in an industry-grade air filter system in your kitchen like the ones below. Otherwise a team of environmental officers in bio-hazard suits will be visiting you within the hour to investigate bio-terrorism complaints.

Multiple exhaust vents at an industrial complex, Asia.

To pacify the environment officers, invite them in for a cuppa tea with a wee dram of milk and generous wedges of England’s best Blue Stilton Cheese and crackers. On the positive side, you’ll be best mates with your Asian neighbors if you happen to have durians too. Cheers.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Seafood of Asia

Edible Fishes of Asia

According to a report that I read somewhere in a scientific journal a few years ago, there are at least 15,000 recorded species of marine fishes around the world not including the fresh and brackish water species. Out of these 15,000, there are more than 5,000 species, big and small… considered to be important sources of protein for the human community.

Every year, explorers and the scientific community are still discovering new species in deep and shallow waters. In my previous days as a seafood vendor… a few days after the Asian Tsunami Disaster of 2005, the local fishing industry in Peninsular Malaysia started hauling in species of seafood that I had never seen before in the marketplace like large jet-black groupers with prominent purple lips and crabs that wore bright, flowery crimson coats of amazing patterns and looked very different from the common flower crabs.

Perhaps some of these uncommon fishes are yet to be documented by the scientific community. Indeed, as I researched some of the fishes in the local libraries, many of the materials do not offer much information.

During that time when I came across the blue-lipped groupers, I did not own a camera and the experience was merely a fleeing experience and the haul of the day… someone’s gastronomy gain.

The Indian Halibut - Psettodes erumei (Schneider, 1801).
A studio produced image

It had always been my ambition to photograph commercial fishes and with the purchase of a dSLR early last year, I started to learn imaging the fishes found in the marketplaces and also to build a proper image bank. It is interesting to know that many of our species are not well known outside Asia like the Bombay Duck, Reynald's Grenadier Anchovy and the Shorthead Hairfin Anchovy due to lack of awareness.

These are fishes that many of us enjoy on a regular basis. Those foreign visitors who had the chance to sample the fishes at the local restaurants, food stalls or home cooked meals may recognize these fishes and appreciate their flavors.

If one were to show an actual fish (if where physical evidence is lacking) or a picture of a Reynald’s Grenadier Anchovy to an American or European visitor, they would probably marvel at it at the unusual shapes and colors and find it very hard to digress the fact that some of our Asian anchovies are huge and different in body formation compared to the ones that are typically used in Western cuisines.

Many locals (such as myself previously) would also think that anchovies would be normally the size of the common ‘dried ikan bilis’ until someone or somehow, we discovered that something fishy is going on.

A Trio of fresh Bombay Ducks - Harpadon nehereus. Otherwise also known as the Ikan Lumek, Bummalo or bamaloh in some other cultures. A studio produced image

So I have set up this page to showcase the various species of local seafood. I found the almost translucent, pale Bombay Ducks an extremely difficult subject to photograph on a pure, white background and that took me several repeated attempts over a week before I could get it right.

I have photographed several species properly on isolated white backgrounds so far; on-going efforts will continue to be added to the fish image database. Maybe someday, I will start a new page on preparation on these fishes and also insert cooking recipes with photographs. Would that be interesting… killing two fishes with one stone?

There are not very much research materials available on Threadfin Salmons (Ikan Kurau) and it was revealing to find out that they are one of the largest families of fishes. In fact, not much is really known on their life-cycles. If I do get some of the Latin names wrong, I welcome feedback on corrections or the given local names. Anyway, one must start somewhere so enjoy the collection. Cheers.

Ecologicord