It takes two to tango as Ah Tai stands with the gargantuan grouper weighing over 150 kgs, caught by a local fisherman in undisclosed Miri waters.
MIRI: Four gargantuan grouper fish weighing over 150 kgs each went to a lucky businessman.
They were landed by a local fisherman this month, but the sheer size shows Miri waters teeming with luxuriant marine life.
The businessman known as Ah Tai, who runs a seafood restaurant, said he first bought a grouper fish from the fisherman weighing 175 kgs on Oct 4.
Then last Sunday, he bought two more groupers from the same fisherman, one weighing over 160 kgs and the other tipping the scales at an eye-popping 250 kgs.
In the last two days, Ah Tai bought another grouper from him, this one weighing over 150 kgs, he added.
“It’s a good business for me and the fisherman because we seldom see and catch so many Groupers in a month,” he said, declining to name the local fisherman for fear of divulging the location teeming with the monster-sized catch, and getting ‘invaded’ by other fishermen.
According to Ah Tai, the fisherman only used fishing hooks to catch the gargantuan fish in deep sea off Miri shores.
He said weighing the fish was a monstrous task since a normal weighing machine could not handle the gargantuan catch.
Ah Tai disclosed that he had to go to a scrap metal yard in Miri just to weigh the fish and use a four-wheel-drive to ferry the fish.
He paid the scrapyard for using his large weighing machine and hauled the catch back to his restaurant to chop into edible sizes, he added.
He said the last fish caught by the fisherman measured about seven feet high before the photographs of the fish were taken.
“We have to use a canvas and big nylon strings to load the fish onto the 4WD, he said, describing the ‘ordeal’.
Commenting on the fish flesh, he said it sold it like hotcakes in his restaurant at RM12 per 100 gm.
“I hope he (the fisherman) can catch more. The succulent flesh of the grouper is very delicious and yummy for my patrons,” Ah Tai said.
The confirmation of such rich marine life strengthens the case to protect the reefs in Miri waters, or all will be lost, as veteran deep sea fisherman Camberi Bakar from Tudan said the Grouper is still plentiful due to the abundance of coral reefs in Miri-Sibuti waters.
When interviewed, the Tudan veteran said grouper of that size are seldom caught as they are found near coral reefs and isolated waters.
“I think he must have stumbled onto a good fishing ground and it was his luck to land the big catch,” Camberi said.
Grouper, humpback grouper, any of numerous species of fishes of the family Serranidae (order Perciformes), belong to the genera Epinephelus and Mycteroperca.
Groupers, widely distributed in warm seas, are characteristically large-mouthed, heavy-bodied fishes that lurk in discreet areas.
Some are very large, attaining a length and weight of about 2 metres (6 feet) and 225 kgs (500 pounds) and in some instances reportedly much more.
Groupers are often dull coloured in green or browns, but a number are brighter, more boldly patterned fishes.
Some, such as the Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus), is noted for its ability to change to other colour patterns.
Also, in many species, such as the blackfin and yellowfin groupers (Mycteroperca bonaci and M venenosa), those inhabiting deeper waters are much redder than near shore. Groupers are protogynous hermaphrodites.