A Fish Called Milagrosa

It was April 17, 2014 Maundy Thursday when some of Sa Kabukiran’s workers were able to catch a big fish. It was so big, it measured at least one and half feet in length. We didn’t know at first what fish it was, so we called it “Milagrosa” because it seemed like a miracle fish which simply grew out of this humble pond. 

The fishpond Sa Kabukiran is a man-made lagoon. It used to be part of a waterlogged rice field. The first earthworks done Sa Kabukiran was to dig out this waterlogged area to create the present lagoon and carve out two small islands, one in the middle and one on the north eastern side of the lake. Sometime June 2010, some tilapia fish fries were released on the fishpond.  Milagrosa was not a tilapia. That’s why I called it a miracle fish, wondering how on earth did it even get there. But Milagrosa is not the only specie of fish that is surprisingly present there. We have also caught some mudfish – “bulig” in Kapampangan or “dalag “ in tagalog. Some “hito” or catfish. We even have turtles in the pond, some mussels and even some janitor fish! And of course, we have tilapia. 

For some strange reason these variety of sea creatures have found their home in this pond carved out in the middle of a rice field. Well, in Tagalog, we call these strangers “singaw” which means literally, “to ooze out” or “bubble out” since apparently, they just oozed out or bubbled out into existence. When there is such diversity, it just means that the pond itself is able to sustain such diversity! The pond is an organic pond, we use no fertilizers or artificial feeds to feed the fishes. No wonder therefore that so much diversity has oozed or bubbled out of this pond!

Later in the day, we found out that Milagrosa was what ordinary folks called a “common fish.” Well, I really don’t know if they are right or wrong. I haven’t seen myself a common fish that big in my life. Well, anyway, let’s just keep calling her Milagrosa! Who knows one day, we might be in for another miraculous catch and be able to catch a “dyesebel” or a siren in this life-friendly pond. And if ever we’ll find a “dyesebel” someday, it might not be a bad idea at all to call her “Anne” (Yes, like Anne Curtis?) (Some barrio folks have created this tale about this pond saying that when the moon is full, a siren comes out of the pond, sits down on one of the islands and begins to sing a song. I asked them what song does the siren sing during full moon? They told me that the siren sings Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance on a clear full moon. Well, I would love to hear that song one day being sung by our very own siren on the lagoon while the moon is full!)