Fisherman Rashid Ahmad's net has caught 204 red coral fish at Saint Martin's Island in Cox's Bazar. In the Chattogram dialect the fish is called ranga choi. Each fish weighs four and a half to five kilograms, and together they weigh 22.5 maunds. He is asking Tk 7 lakh for them.

The fish were caught in a seine net on the beach at Deilpara on Saint Martin's Island at about 3:30pm on Wednesday. Nur Ahmed, chairman of the Saint Martin's union parishad (UP), confirmed this to Prothom Alo.

Rashid Ahmad said the net was cast into the sea at Deilpara, north of the Saint Martin's jetty, around noon. From the afternoon several labourers hauled it in, and towards evening a great many large fish were seen in the net pulled onto the beach.

Habib Khan, UP member for ward 2 of Saint Martin's, said several local fish traders were offering Tk 4.5 lakh to Tk 5 lakh for the fish. The fish were laid out on the sand of the beach while bargaining went on, and local people crowded round to see them.

Mohammad Delwar Hossain, senior fisheries officer of Teknaf upazila, said: "I have heard that 204 red coral were caught in one fisherman's seine net at Saint Martin's. Tasty coral, or bhetki, is prized across the country. Coral, a fish of the deep waters of the Bay of Bengal, is not always found in the markets, which is why it is a little expensive. The fish usually weighs between 1 and 9 kg. Its scientific name is Lates calcarifer. It is found in tropical regions, especially the western Pacific and Indian Ocean regions. It is also found in northern Asia, southern Queensland and western East Africa."

On the morning of 22 September, 198 red coral were caught in a net cast in the Bay of Bengal from the trawler FB Riaz of Mohammad Ayub (43), a resident of Mistripara on Shahporir Dwip in Teknaf.

Source: Prothom Alo. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.