Experts try to propagate rare, expensive fish

Manila: Philippine experts are trying to propagate a rare and expensive fish that can only be found in the Cagayan river in the northern tip of Luzon island to increase its number and make it more affordable.

It is believed that the Pacific salmon, or ludong, can only be found in the 500-kilometre Bannag or Cagayan River where it spawns but its main habitat is in Upper Jones in Isabela province.

In fact, the Cagayan and Aquatic Resources research centre, which is a local facility of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, had only one sample until recently when it acquired 40 fingerlings of the rare fish from a hotel owner who caught another ludong in Cagayan River five years ago and managed to get eggs from it.

The tasty fish is sold from 1,500 to 4,000 pesos a kilo (Dh107-285) but is seldom found in public markets because middlemen buy the fish as soon as fishermen land ashore.

Westly Rosario, BFAR interim executive director and the research centre's chief, said they hope their current collection would allow them to proceed with morphological and DNA tests.

"We have no ludong DNA profile and morphology yet, and we are undertaking this project so we will have records to consult to find out if a captured fish, which looks like a ludong, is the real thing," Rosario said.

BFAR scientists suspect there are more than one species of ludong in the country's waters, he said.

It is believed that the ludongs come down to spawn only in late October until mid-November, when typhoons swell the Cagayan River.

Fishermen brave the violent waters at night to catch them.