Last Update : Sunday 30 September, 2001 9:53 PM
Last Update : Sunday 30 September, 2001 9:53 PM |
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Illust : Anuwat Saisaeng
Dogtooth Tuna Scientific name
Gymnosarda unicolor
Common name
Dogtooth tuna
Size
170 centimeters
Dispersion
Andaman Sea. Little found in the Gulf of Thailand
Area found
Pelagic fish
Depth
5 – 100 meters
Feed on
Fish in the coral reefs
Situation
Usually live in the deep and clear water reef. Not very much found in Thailand.
Conservation
Fishing in the preservation area really destroy the life of dogtooth tuna
Fish Tip
If you would like to see him, look out in the blue water mass. You would never see him by looking down.
Before writing this passage, I have just eaten sashimi. There were delicious tuna prepared by a very good cook. Clean-cut slices of the meat had no fishy odour at all. I even bought one home. Not for long, Mister Anuwat or Tee contacted me that he would draw a dogtooth tuna. I was really puzzled. I asked him to draw a moray eel to please Talaythai fans, or even a butterfly fish. No! He would not. He was not interested to draw any fish that can be seen in abundant. Rather, he would draw something particular. We will soon change the name of our section to “Miracle Fish of the Week”, for that matter.
Back to our story. You might have been familiar with the name tuna already. Actually, Thai people use this name to refer to a smaller fish or skipjack tuna. There are about 50 species of them in Family Scombridae. Spanish mackerel is also in this Family as well.
Fish in this Family is pelagic, swimming back and forth like a rocket, with elegant body pliant to the water and very strong muscles. Any one who had been on board a fishing boat that caught a tuna fish would know how he knocked his tail against the ship-hold like a rock-and-roll drummer. The beats gave a thrill feeling, especially, to a person who had to take him to the freezer – like me when I was a student trainee.
Tuna fish do not come in to Thai reefs because they live in the deep sea next to the ocean. Mainly we found them around mid water rock piles like Richeliu, ËԹᴧ. Tuna meeting points are likely to be Similan, around the tip of many capes. At the tip of Si Island twenty years ago while I was a student going snorkeling to survey the reefs, I met 5 man-size tuna swimming in a file so close to the shore. I swam one way, afraid of being bitten by tuna fish. The fish went another way, afraid of being bitten by me – I supposed. The scene cannot be expected any more now.
Tuna usually comes near rock piles dashed by the waves. Some time they swim along the reef edge on the deep-water side, waiting to charge at small stray fishes of the reef. Young dogtooth tunas live together in a group of 4 or 5. The fully-grown stays alone. Their name comes from prominent appearance of the teeth, differs from other type of tuna.
Probability to meet dogtooth tuna is small. You have to go to Similan. If it is skipjack tuna, you can find them around rock piles in the Gulf as well. Some time they come in a school of hundreds. That was a sight! Before ending this passage I would like to give another tip. Tuna meat is classified as follows.
Skipjack – Dogtooth - Yellow fin – Big eye
The more you go to the right, the higher the price. We do not have a lot of Big eye tuna in Thailand. Yellow fin is considered grand enough. What we would really meet in the reefs should be skipjack and dogtooth. The others, more particularly the last one, would not be around because he is a deep-water fish.
Tuna is an economic fish. They are good to eat. Just be aware not to fish them in the legally preserved area would help the situation.
Now I have finished the passage and will go back to my sashimi.
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