Animals - part 2 - sea life

[Hela, Eric]

Just one sea life I remember,
 
Mailo -  eel
 

Eric Hela 
Information Technology Officer 
Morobe Consolidated Goldfields 
Wau, Morobe Province. Papua New Guinea. 
phone: 675 474 6208; fax: 675 474 6344 
mailto:erich at morobegold.com.pg <mailto:erich at morobegold.com.pg>  

 
-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas H. Slone [mailto:THSlone at usa.net]
Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2001 10:04 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Animals - part 2 - sea life


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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