Notho - Safari “MT
Article text: Filipe Torre (APK 50)
Introduction.
In the summer of 2002 I have suggested to my wife that
a collecting trip of Nothobranchius could be a good opportunity to know
Africa. Fortunately she had agreed on that almost immediately and we’ve started
the procedures. During more than six months I have studied maps and I’ve also
establish contacts e gathered all the material that I have thought it would be
necessary to make this trip a success. The chosen destiny was Beira, in
Mozambique and the “targets” were N.rachovii and the N.orthonotus
that occur in that region.
Finally, on the 4th of April 2003, we have
cached the plane to Mozambique with the objective to capture Nothobranchius.
The flight till Maputo taked ten hours and was extremely tiring and bored but
that was secondary and I had the strong will to come back to Portugal with new Notho.
locations belonging to the Beira area. Beira is the second largest and
important city of Mozambique and is situated in the centre of that country just
in front of the Indic Ocean. In Beira, it is also situated the end of the
hydrographical basins of the Pungoé river, Buzi river and Chiveve river, being
this last one a small river that born and die in the city.
During the flight to Maputo I had the time to think
about the collecting code to be used and I have decided that “MT” was the right
one. “M” means Mozambique and “T” means
Torre. For me, it seems correct to include the first letter of the collector’s
surname in the collecting code although that is frequently missed in the East
African collecting codes.
After the arrival to Maputo, we would have to take
another flight that would finally lead us to Beira. The flight Maputo – Beira
takes only one hour. We had some problems to take the flight since someone told
us that our reservation had been cancelled. In the end, everything went well
thanks to the TAP officer in the Maputo airport that gently could put us in a
flight some ours after.
It was almost
dark night when we landed in Bier and the sky was cloudy but even so it was
very hot, in fact the thermometer marked 35º Celsius. This temperature almost
doubled the registered in Portugal at the departure time. Fifteen hours had
passed since we left Portugal and we were very tired.
In the airport of Beira we called a taxi (the car
could barely move; for sure it was the most degraded piece of junk that I had
ever seen until those days) that would take us to Embaixador Hotel where we’ve
stayed during the trip. Since me and my wife had no experience in these kind of
trips we had agreed that the safest and easiest solution would be to stay
always in the same city during the trip, and to try to discover Nothobranchius
habitats in a ray of
In the moment that we’ve entered in Beira, the deception and frustration took me (probably also due to the fact that I was very tired and starving) since the city looked a giant ghetto and the streets were crowded with thousands of persons walking around trying to find something to eat. Not even in my worst previsions I would have thought that Beira was in that awful situation of complete degradation.
Locality 1.
In the next morning, April the 6th,
my wife waked me up around 8,30 hours and told me that it was a beautiful day
and that right in front to our room some pools were present. I’ve watched the
pools for some minutes trying to imagine if would be possible that
Nothobranchius were present in the middle of the city. In the meanwhile we have
eaten the breakfast. Right after we were back to our room in order to catch a
net and a rubber boots. We have not taken any recipients to put the fish since
we were
The pool were the fish were collected was situated in
the left side of a small sand road that passed near the “Casa de Cultura da
Região Administrativa de Sofala”. The called “Casa dos Bicos” could be seen at
the bottom of the road. Two trees were
pending over the pool but one of the parts were totally exposed to direct
sunlight. The habitat was deep in some parts (more than
The water was very transparent in this place but had
brownie coloration and a mixture of sand, black mud and some vegetable matter
that conferred a dark aspect to the pool formed the soil. Some Coca – cola cans
were spotted in some places of the habitat.
One of the kids asked me for the net and started
pushing it towards the bottom of the pool. After just few seconds the first
fish were caught, in this case a male of N. rachovii showing attractive
colours but also very week and apparently starving. In this pool, the kids
collected in total 3 males and 6 females, all of them showing sings of
starvation and with a debilitated health.
The water analysis showed the following results:
Ph = 7
Carbonate hardness (KH) = 5
Nitrites (NO2) = < 0,3 mg/l
Temperature =
The air temperature was
Only two trios survived to the trip back to Portugal.
The population and collecting code of this place is: “Beira, MT 03/1”.
The males are similar to “Beira
Locality
II.
During the morning of the 7th of April, we headed to
the airport in order to get the car. Some days before I had asked for a 4WD
vehicle and a driver since neither me or my wife had knowledge of the roads and
the driving was on the left side of the road. Unfortunately it was not possible
to satisfy any of my wishes and the available vehicle was a Toyota Corolla 1.3
cc and we had to drive the entire journey. The Toyota Corolla proved to be a
very comfortable and though car but totally unsuitable to that kind of journey.
After this we were on the way of EN6 Route, in the Dondo - Chimoio direction.
Few kilometres after Inhamizua, the pools started to appear along the sides of
the road but in it I have collected only cichlids. When I was inside of one of
the pools, a couple of natives approached and asked me if I was collecting
fishes. I said yes and asked them if they knew “Bandeirinhas”. The women told
me then that this kind of fish could be collected in the Cerâmica area, some
kilometres from the place where I was.
In Cerâmica, I discovered a big marshy area with lots
of pools, most of them bigger than a Football field.
After several frustrated attempts to collect Nothobranchius
in some of the pools (at this time I had collected barbs, characins, cichlids, Clarias
sp., etc; but not a single Nothobranchius) on the right side of the
road, I have decided to go to the other side and finally I had collected the
first Notho, a small male of Nothobranchius
orthonotus “red type”.
The habitat was
situated on the left side of the road and consisted in several pools connected
between them by small channels. All the area was completely exposed to direct
sunlight and the pools were rather deep, in some cases more than
The aquatic vegetation was very abundant and that
caused me some difficulties to capture the fish since the net was always full
of plants. The species present were water lilies and a long green plant very
similar do Elodea spp.. The land vegetation consisted only in grass.
The soil was similar to Locality
I but presented also small stones. The
water was dark in colour.
Two couples of N.
orthonotus “red type” and one male of N. rachovii “black type” (similar to the fishes that I
have also collected in Locality IV) were collected in this place. The fishes were collected
only in the deepest parts of the habitat. I have visited the habitat some days
after but was not able to collect more fish.
Unfortunately only one N.
orthonotus couple survived to the trip back to Portugal. This fishes
showed strong red colours. In terms of colour, they were almost like N.
kuhntae “Roloff strain” showed in Aqualog.
In these pools I have also captured several small
barbs, characins, frog larvae and a very beautiful amphibian.
The water analysis showed the following results:
Ph = 6
Carbonate hardness (KH) = 1
Nitrites (NO2) = < 0,3 mg/l
Temperature =
The air temperature was
The population and collecting code of this place is: “Cerâmica 1, MT 03/2”.
Locality III.
In the next day, 8 of April, we returned
to the same area in order to discover more pools where Nothobranchius might be
present. The area was huge and for sure more habitats would exist. In the
beginning of the road my wife discovered three pools connected among them by
small channels and we decided to stop to investigate (in the day before these
pools were not detected). I’ve started to push the net towards the bottom of
the pool and after just a few seconds I’ve collected the first Nothobranchius,
in this case a female of N. orthonotus of about
The pools were completely exposed to
direct sunlight and the deepest part had more than
The Nothos. were only present in
the deepest parts of the habitat.
The soil was very similar to the previous
locations but containing a lot of clay and the water was light brown and muddy.
The N. orthonotus collected in this
place had a blue/green body and red fins. The mouth was turned up being this
characteristic present in the scientific description of Nothobranchius
mayeri Ahl, 1935, considered nowadays a synonym of N. orthonotus.
From the nine collected pairs, eight
survived to the trip back to Portugal.
The water analysis showed the following results:
Ph = 6,5
Carbonate hardness (KH) = 1
Nitrites (NO2) = < 0,3 mg/l
Temperature =
The air temperature was
The population and collecting code of this place is:
“Cerâmica 2, MT 03/3”.
In the morning of April the 9th, we were
going to visit a swampy area near the airport, in the SE part of Beira which is
very well known since N. rachovii and N. orthonotus were collected in there several
times in the past. John Rosenstock collected both species in this marsh in
1991. Unfortunately and despite the excellent description given by John about
the area it was not possible to collect Nothobranchius in here. The only
fish present in the area was Clarias sp.. The road that crosses the
marsh was full of bags and cans of pesticides used in rice fields. Probably the
pesticides have killed the Nothos.. I hope I’m wrong and I will try to
collect in that area in 2005.
The day was not bright to us. In the beginning of the
morning we had a small car accident but fortunately it all went well.
In the middle of the morning we headed to the Savane
River,
The habitat was located
I’ve started to collect and the first
female that I’ve collected belonged to N. rachovii.. At the same time I’ve
returned to the margin a 4WD vehicle stopped and inside were four Wildlife
Rangers. This day was threatening to become memorable to us. In the meanwhile,
my wife told one of them that she was a Physician and the Ranger asked her if
it was possible to have a look to an injury in the elbow as a result of a
motorcycle crash. After that the Rangers said goodbye and gave us a phone
number of one of them. We meet them this same day and in the following days. We
talked a lot about football and drank some Manica and 2M beers. After that we
had no more problems.
In
total ten pairs of N. orthonotus and fifteen more of N. rachovii were
collected. The two species occurred in the same habitat. We visited the habitat
in the next day and captured some more females of both species.
I have also captured a big Clarias
spp. of about
The habitat was exposed to the sun but
offered some shadows furnished by a big tree pending to the water. The deepest
part was about
The aquatic vegetation was formed by water
lilies.
This time the females were in the margins
of the habitat. All the males were captured in the deepest parts of the pool.
The soil was formed by clay and a lot of
plant waist very similar to the peat used in Nothos. tanks. The water
was very dark.
The N.
orthonotus collected in this habitat had bright red colours all over
the body, including the fins. The N. rachovii were dark in terms of
coloration, very similar to the one’s present in Krüger National Park, in South
Africa. This park is situated
The water analysis showed the following results:
Ph = 6,5
Carbonate hardness (KH) = 1
Nitrites (NO2) = < 0,3 mg/l
Temperature =
The air temperature was
The population and collecting code of this place is:
“Nhangau, MT 03/4”.
Final comments.
Some of the females of N. orthonothus showed
black spots all over the body and fins, just like the females of N.
melanospilus while other females had no spots at all. It was also the first
time I’ve seen golden females. Usually the females of Nothobranchius
have a grey coloration, except the one’s belonging to the specie N.
fuscotaeniatus.
In my point of view the following points
are very important:
-
In
the positive side:
·
The
capture of a deep orange population of N. rachovii almost like the
regular aquarium strain;
·
The
capture, in the centre of Mozambique,
·
The
capture of several populations of N. orthonotus in the same
hydrographical basin (the Pungoé River) with great variability of colour, size
and shape among them which probably will re-open the debate about the valid
status of N. kuhntae and N. mayeri;
·
Almost
all the females were captured in the deepest parts of the pools, together with
the males (only the females of “Nhangau, MT 03/4” were collected in shallow
waters);
·
The
return of the collecting trips to Beira, in the Sofala region. The last known
collecting trip was in 1991, by John Rosenstock;
·
The
kindness and cordiality of the people of Mozambique.
-
In
the negative side:
·
The
degradation of Beira and suburbs. Although, we were informed that the town is
in recovering process;
·
Most
persons survive in miserable conditions;
·
The
lack of potable water. To get good water one has to buy it.
·
Most
roads are in very bad conditions;
·
The
rice fields are growing and probably will destroy a lot of Nothobranchius
habitats since pesticides are being used to control the plagues.
Filipe
Torre, APK 50