DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17582/journal.pjz/20210921150903
Pakistan J. Zool., pp 1-4, 2022.
Short Communication
First Record of Balashark, Balantiocheilos
melanopterus (Bleeker, 1850), in the Muara Angke
Wildlife Reserve, North Jakarta, Indonesia
Gema Wahyudewantoro1*, Rahmi Dina2, Haryono1, Sekar Larashati2,
Siti Aisyah2 and Sopian Sauri1
1
Research Center for Biology, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN),
Republic of Indonesia, Cibinong Science Center, Bogor 16911
2
Research Center for Limnology, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN),
Republic of Indonesia, Cibinong Science Center, Bogor 16911
Article Information
Received 21 September 2021
Revised 09 October 2021
Accepted 27 October 2021
Available online 10 February 2022
(early access)
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ABSTRACT
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Balashark, Balantiocheilus melanopterus (Bleeker, 1850), has been discovered for the first time in the
swamp inside Muara Angke Wildlife Reserve, Jakarta, Indonesia. Balashark in Indonesia is originally
distributed in Sumatra and Kalimantan. However, the fish was collected in the public waters of Java which
is not its distribution areas. Fishing gear used was gill net with a diameter of 2 inches”.The characteristics,
morphometric and meristic records are supplemented with water quality information to supplement
existing data.
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alashark fish (Balantiocheilos melanopterus) is known
by several local names including buo, baro, gatata,
ketutung, drifting butts, ridiangus and tutung (Sukmono et
al., 2013; Haryono et al., 2015; Wahyudewantoro et al.,
2020). This fish is already relatively rare in nature, and
has been included in The IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species with vulnerable status (VU), and is not included in
the CITES Appendix (Lumbantobing, 2020). Nationally,
this species of fish is fully protected through the Regulation
of the Minister of Environment and Forestry Number
P.106/MENLHK/SETJEN/KUM.1/12/2018 and also the
Decree of the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of
the Republic of Indonesia Number 1 of 2021. The fish is
mainly used as an ornamental fish because of its attractive
body shape and color. Balashark population is rarely found
in its natural habitat and threatened allegedly as a result
of overexploitation as aquarium ornamental fish (Barras
et al., 2007; Chumaidi et al., 2008; Humprey and Bain,
2018).
Balantiocheilos genus has 2 species in the world,
namely Balantiocheilos ambusticauda and B. melanopterus
(Kottelat, 2001). Although the morphology between the
two species looks almost similar, there are some specific
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* Corresponding author: gema_wahyudewantoro@yahoo.
com
0030-9923/2022/0001-0001 $ 9.00/0
Copyright 2022 Zoological Society of Pakistan
Authors’ Contribution
GW, RD and SL designed the topic
and method of this research. SA and
SS assisted in the field work and data
collection. GW, RD and H processed
the data and compiled articles.
RD and SL helped improve the
manuscript.
Key words
Balantiocheilus melanopterus,
Balashark, Fish, Muara angke wildlife
reserve, Indonesia
characters to distinguish them. B. ambusticauda has a
shorter and rounder snout than B. melanopterus. While
the black border on the pelvic and anal fins is thicker for
B. melanopterus (Kottelat et al., 1993; Ng and Kottelat.,
2007). Previously, balashark used scientific names
Puntius melanopterus and Barbus melanopterus. Current
valid scientific name, Balantiocheilos melanopterus
was determined after comprehensive taxonomy studies
(Kottelat, 2013; Froese and Pauly, 2021).
Balashark fish have an elongated flat body shape with
a maximum total length of 35 cm. A unique identifying
feature is that there is no knob or bulge on the lower lip.
A pocket that opens to the back is formed while the upper
lip looks curvy. The dorsal fin rays are hard with serrated
sides, and all fin color, except the pectoral fin with black
edges (Kottelat et al., 1993; Kottelat, 2001). Another
character is the absence of protrusion and murmuring at
the tip of the lower jaw of the mouth. Then the dorsal fin
is located closer to the front than the tail. Anal fin with 5
to 6 forked rays. The body color is silvery with the outline
of the back more dark. Edges of dorsal fin, pelvic fin, anal
fin and caudal fin with black margins. On the lateral line
there are 34 to 35 rows of scales (Kottelat et al., 1993;
Wahyudewantoro et al., 2014).
In general, this fish is resident of a river with a medium
to large size lakes and swamps. Usually found swimming
not far from the vegetation of aquatic plants. As for the food
are several types of insects, worms, shellfish, crustaceans,
G. Wahyudewantoro et al.
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algae and parts of plants (Haryono et al., 2015; Froese
and Pauly, 2021). In terms of reproduction, balashark
fish experience gonad maturity which is influenced by
rainfall which causes low water temperature, then after
maturity the female fish gonads will release eggs and will
be fertilized by males. The fish eggs produced are around
3,000 to 12,000 eggs which hatch in about 13 h (Baras et
al., 2007). Furthermore, the distribution of the balashark
was recorded in Asia, namely in Peninsular Malaysia,
Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Indonesia in Sumatra and
Kalimantan (Kottelat et al., 1993; Froese and Pauly, 2021).
However, this species was recorded in swampy waters
within the Muara Angke Wildlife Reserve area of Jakarta.
Whereas in terms of local distribution, Java and especially
DKI Jakarta are not included in the natural distribution of
this fish.
Affandi et al. (1992) and Turan (1999). The measurement
process uses the Mitutoyo brand digital funnel with a
precision of 0.01 mm.
Measurements of water quality were carried
outusing the YSI Water Quality Checker and some
chemical parameters were analyzed at the Hydrodynamic
Laboratory, Research Center for Limnology-BRIN.
Results
The swamp where this study was conducted have
overflowing water from the Angke river and depth of 1 to
3 meters. The physical conditions of the swamp included
turbid, greenish water color, smelly and surrounding apiapi trees Avicennia spp., bakau Rhizopora spp., nipah
Nypha fruticans, nyamplung Calophyllum inophyllum,
pidada Sonneratia caseolaris and waru laut Hibiscus
tiliaceu.
Balashark fish collected along with several other
species of fish namely bandeng Chanos chanos, belanak
Planiliza tade, bulan-bulan Megalops cyprinoides, julungjulung Dermogenys pussila, paray Rasbora lateristriata,
tawes Barbonymus gonionotus.
The collected balashark have a standard length of
142.24 mm and a total length of 180.71 mm (Fig. 2). Head
length is 25.75% shorter than the standard length, body
height is 37.59% shorter than standard length. The snout
is 34.98% shorter than the head length. The eye diameter
is 85.40% of the snout length and 73.07% of the distance
between the eyes. The mouth is not equipped with barbels,
protactile type, and is located inclined downwards. The
lower lip is curved at the back to form a pouch that opened
towards the back. The thickness of the pouch at the bottom
of the mouth is 25.82% compared to the length of the
snout. Starting from the tip of the snout to the top of the
head straight, and slightly curved towards the dorsal fin.
The dorsal fin is higher than the base length 54.48%. The
dorsal fin lied on the 10th scale of the lateral line, and the
pelvic fin on the 9th scale of the lateral line. There are 12
scales in front of dorsal fin. The dorsal fin is concave,
equipped with 4 spines with a serrated back, and 8 soft
rays. The pelvic fins are 88.99% longer than the pectoral
fins. Pectoral fin has 1 spine and 16 soft rays. Pelvic fin
is with 2 spines and 9 soft rays. The anal fin height is
54.48% compared to the length. The anal fin has 3 spines,
with the third spine being thicker, and 6 soft rays. The
perfect lateral line is 35 scales, and the distance from the
beginning of the dorsal fin is 7½ /1/ 5½ from the pelvic fin.
The caudal peduncle is surrounded by 16 scales. Caudal
fin is fork-shaped, generally silver in color, and yellow fins
with black edges.
Furthermore, the observed physical parameters are
a transparency of 30 cm, and the water depth ranging
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Fig. 1. Muara Angke Wildfire Reserved (David, 2010).
Materials and methods
Balashark fish sample was collected in the Angke
Swamp, Muara Angke Wildlife Reserve, Kapuk Muara
Village, Penjaringan Subdistrict, North Jakarta City,
Indonesia. on April 3, 2021 (Fig. 1). The coordinates of the
location where this fish species was found are S 6°06’52.4”
and E 106°46’01.7”. The fishing gear used was a gill net
with a mesh size of 2 inches, which was plugged in using
bamboo stakes at a depth of ± 3 meters, and for 2 h, from
9.00 to 11.00. The fish sample was fixed with 10% formalin
solution and labeled collection. Furthermore, at the fish
Laboratory in Bogor Zoological Museum, Research Center
for Biology BRIN, the fish was washed with running water
and preserved in 70% alcohol, after which it was identified
based on Kottelat et al. (1993). Morphological characters
such as morphometrics and meristics were analyzed with
First Record of Balashark, Balantiocheilos melanopterus
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from 100 to 300 cm. As for the observed water quality
parameters are temperature 31.05o-31.15oC, pH 7.1-8.6,
conductivity 0.282-6.76 mS/cm, DO 0.285-1.994 mg/L,
COD 29.09 - 42.41 mg/L, ORP 48-51 mV, TDS 0.181-4.27
g/L, salinity 1-1.2 ppm, TSS 200 mg/L, TN 2.024 – 5.362
mg/L and TP 0.137 – 1.388 mg/L.
3
Several reports have mentioned about declining
population of balashark in the wild. The threat to
balashark population in distribution areas such as
Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Laos is already very
worrying (Barras et al., 2007). In addition, there has
been a population decline in the waters of Sumatra and
Kalimantan, which are the distribution regions of the
balashark in Indonesia (Wargasasmita, 2002; Effendi
et al., 2008; Hui and Kottelat, 2009; Insan, 2011). This
information was strengthened by field study in the Kapuas
river and Mahakam tributaries in Kalimantan, and Lake
Bedegum, Hutan Harapan Jambi, where only 1 to 4
individuals were found (Adjie and Utomo, 2011; Sukmono
et al., 2013; Jusmaldi et al., 2019).
Furthermore, to preserve the balashark in nature,
several laboratory studies have been carried out to
domesticate the fish (Baras et al., 2007; Effendi et al.,
2008; Insan, 2011), but have not obtained encouraging
results. Meanwhile, the demand for ornamental fish,
especially native to Indonesia tends to increase, so this is
what makes fishing in nature quite high.
Meanwhile, cases of balashark fish found in public
waters outside their habitat have been reported in the
Temengor Reservoir, Perak Malaysia (Amirrudin and
Ismail, 2014). Whereas in Indonesia, especially the Muara
Angke Wildlife Reserve, data on fish species previously
did not record the presence of balashark fish in these
waters (Wahyudewantoro et al., 2014; Mujadid et al.,
2020). The discovery of this species of fish in the waters of
the Muara Angke Wildlife Reserve has two possibilities,
that is because it spreads naturally or fish are released from
the maintenance container. This is because the balashark is
already a popular ornamental fish and the price is relatively
affordable, so it is widely kept by hobbyists.
As a mangrove area, the presence of swamps
observed in the Muara Angke Wildlife Reserve tends to
be influenced by the flow of the Angke river at low tide.
As for the Angke river, the information obtained is a river
that has been polluted by several heavy metals (Oktavia et
al., 2018; Mujadid et al., 2020). Therefore, the results of
observations and analysis of water quality conditions in this
area are noted to have a relatively high level of pollution,
both organic and inorganic pollutants. Meanwhile, in their
natural habitat, the balashark lives in waters that tend to
be clear and have fast currents, with a water temperature
of 27 oC to 32 oC (Adjie and Utomo, 2011; Jusmaldi et
al., 2019). In addition, the balashark is known to be a
freshwater fish species, while at the sampling location the
influence of salinity in these waters was recorded.
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Fig. 2. Balashark from Muara Angke Wildlife Reserve.
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Discussion
Based on the results obtained, that the balashark caught
was in juvenile size, because the maximum recorded size
was 350 mm (Kottelat et al., 1993; Froese and Pauly, 2021).
Groups of the genus Balantiocheilos were identified as
having thick, fleshy lips, and forming a sac-like slit (Kottelat
et al., 1993; Ng and Kottelat, 2007). The snout of the fish
is blunt and short and has no barbels. Meanwhile, Ng and
Kottelat (2007) argue that B. melanopterus has a slightly
longer snout to head length ratio than B. ambusticauda,
which is 27.50 to 33.90%. The dorsal fin is elevated and
tapered. The pectoral fins are shorter than the pelvic fins.
On the edges of the dorsal, ventral, anal and caudal fins are
black. Differences are also seen in B. ambusticauda, where
the black on the edges of the pelvic and anal fins is thinner,
or even the abdomen is often completely black (Ng and
Kottelat, 2007).
Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the Capacity Building
G. Wahyudewantoro et al.
4
Project of the Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management
Program-Coral Triangle Initiative, (COREMAP-CTI)
2021. Thanks also to those who have helped this research
both in the field and in the laboratory.
Statement of conflict of interest
The authors have declared no conflict of interest.
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