Animals - part 2 - sea life

Thomas H. Slone THSlone at usa.net
Sun Oct 21 00:03:56 EST 2001


Examples below are from Wantok Newspaper's Stori Tumbuna.

Fish and other sea creatures:

ambusa / popis: dolphin, porpoise (family Delphinidae) (Mihalic; 
Murphy, 1985: 61)
Question: Mihalic says there are no true porpoises in PNG, but there 
is a dolphin (Steno bredanensis).  See 
http://www.gn.apc.org/whales/dolphin12.shtml

atun: tuna (family Scombridae) (Allen & Swainston, 1992: 48-49)

bikbel: puffer fish, blow fish (family Tetraodontidae) and porcupine 
fish (family Diodontidae) (Allen & Swainston, 1992: 106-107) (synonym 
of nilpis, meaning 1)

blupela pis: 1. parrotfish (family Scaridae) (Allen & Swainston, 
1992: 88-91) 2. Any blue-colored fish
Question: Most, but not all parrotfishes are blue!  Are the non-blue 
parrotfishes still called blupela pis?

epa, eipa, par / stingre: manta ray, sting ray (families 
Dasyatididae, Mobulidae, Myliobatidae) (Mihalic; Murphy, 1985: 61; 
Allen & Swainston, 1992: 17, 24-25)

grilepis: seaperch (family Lutjanidae) (Allen & Swainston, 1992: 50-53)

gam: 1. bailer shell (Melo aethiopicus and M. umbilicatus) (Mihalic, 
1971: 86; Hinton, 1977: 50) 2. large cowry shell (Cypraea spp.) 
(Mihalic, 1971: 86; Hinton, 1977: 11-16) 3. Other definitions as per 
Mihalic

karua: mullet (family Mugilidae) (Allen & Swainston, 1992: 48-49)

katu (from the Tolai and Molot languages; Mosel, 1980: 29): 1. shell 
or crab 2. cunt (metaphorical) (Mosel, 1980: 29).  There are several 
PNG folktales in which a woman wields a "crab" to attack a man's 
genitals, alluding to the vagina dentata folk motif (F547.1.1) 
(Slone, 2001).

kol / malambul: herring (order Clupeiformes) (Mihalic; Murphy, 1985: 
61; FishBase WWW, http://ibs.uel.ac.uk/fishbase)

korvo: 1. sunfish (Murphy, 1985: 61) 2. manta ray, sting ray 
(families Dasyatididae, Mobulidae, Myliobatidae) (Murphy, 1985: 61; 
Allen & Swainston, 1992: 17, 24-25)

kramsel: 1. shellfish (Murphy, 1985: 165) 2. synonym of gam (Mihalic, 
1971: 86; Murphy, 1985: 76)


lala: 1. mackerel (family Scombridae) (Mihalic, 1971: 351; Allen & 
Swainston, 1992: 48-49) 2. tailorfish (Pomatomus saltator) (Mihalic, 
1971: 119; FishBase WWW, http://ibs.uel.ac.uk/fishbase)

langul: trevally (family Carangidae) (Murphy, 1985: 61; Allen & 
Swainston, 1992:  46-47)

melisa: 1. barracuda (Sphyraena spp.) (Mihalic, 1971: 134, 350); 
Allen & Swainston, 1992: 48-49) 2. pike fish (Mihalic, 1971: 351)
Question: Pikes belong to the family Esocidae, which appear to be 
restricted to the colder parts of the northern hemisphere (FishBase 
WWW, http://ibs.uel.ac.uk/fishbase).  Does anyone know what Mihalic 
was referring to here?  Both barracudas and pikes are elongated, so 
maybe it only refers to the former?

morso: "species of reef fish" (Murphy, 1985: 61)
Question: Does anyone know which species?

nilpis: 1. puffer fish, blow fish (family Tetraodontidae) and 
porcupine fish (family Diodontidae) (Allen & Swainston, 1992: 
106-107) (synonym of bikbel) 2. scorpionfish (family Scorpaenidae) 
(Allen & Swainston, 1992: 32-33)

pislama (from the Portuguese, "bicho do mar", literally "sea worm"): 
1. trepang, sea slug, bêche-de-mer (Holothuria spp.)  2. a sluggard 
(Tok Piksa) (Mühlhäusler, 1979: 337)

retpela pis: 1. red bass (Lutjanus bohar; family Lutjanidae) (Allen & 
Swainston, 1992: 50-51) 2. snapper (Macolor spp.; family Lutjanidae) 
(Allen & Swainston, 1992: 52-53) 3. sea bass (family Serranidae 
[FishBase WWW, http://ibs.uel.ac.uk/fishbase)
Questions: The two species of snapper in Allen & Swainston are not 
red.  Are there red snappers in PNG?  Are non-red snappers called 
retpela pis?

sak anggau: dogfish (various kinds of shark) (Murphy, 1985: 61)

selpis: 1. sailfish, marlin (synonym of sopis in Mihalic) (Murphy, 
1985: 100) 2. shellfish (possibly non-standard; example, "Olsem na 
pikinini man i no wet.  Em i kirap tasol na opim karamap ya.  Insait 
long karamap ya i gat kain kain selpis bilong rip na nambis.".  The 
phrase, "selpis bilong rip na nambis" indicates that the author is 
not referring to fish, but to shells.) 3. spear gun (possibly 
non-standard; example, "Sempion i kam antap long kisim gut win na 
taitim gut selpis bilong em na em i go bek long kilim dispela 
maleo.") 4. selfish (possibly non-standard; example, "Wanpela man 
namel long ol i no save skelim kaikai, em i selpis tumas na ol man na 
meri na pikinini i no save laikim em.")
Note: "sempion" is another new word, meaning "champion"

sopis: sawfish (order Pristiformes) (Murphy, 1985: 61; FishBase WWW, 
http://ibs.uel.ac.uk/fishbase)

stonpis: stonefish (Scorpaenodes guamensis and Synanceia verrucosa) 
(Allen & Swainston, 1992: 32-33)

susu: 1. Usual meanings as per Mihalic 2. "white narrow fish of 
trevally family" (Carangidae) (Murphy, 1985: 62; Allen & Swainston, 
1992:46-47)

tangir: Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) (Allen & 
Swainston, 1992: 48-49)

taur: a trumpet made from the spiral conch shell (Charonia tritonis). 
It is widespread in coastal areas, but is also found in some inland 
locations (McLean, 1994: 45-47).

ula: "species of fish" (Murphy, 1985: 62)
Question: Does anyone know what this is?

urita: alternate spelling of kurita (Murphy, 1985: 108)

wusta: oyster (Murphy, 1985: 62)

References:

Allen, Gerald R. & Swainston, Roger (1992). Reef Fishes of New 
Guinea. Madang, Papua New Guinea: Christensen Research Institute.

Hinton, Alan (1977). Guide to Shells of Papua New Guinea. Port 
Moresby: Robert Brown.

McLean, Mervyn (1994). Diffusion of Musical Instruments and their 
Relation to Language Migrations in New Guinea. Kulele: Occasional 
Papers on Pacific Music and Dance 1. Boroko, Papua New Guinea: 
Cultural Studies Division, National Research Institute.

Murphy: already in Web page bibliography

Slone, Thomas H. (2001). One Thousand One Papua New Guinean Nights: 
Folktales from Wantok Newspaper. Oakland, CA: Masalai Press, 2 
volumes.  For ordering information, see: 
http://THSlone.tripod.com/masalaipress.html

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