Mosquito fish touted as defense vs dengue

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines  – The lowly mosquito fish is now a fast-rising star at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) center in Barangay Bonuan Binloc here for being an effective defense against mosquito-borne diseases like dengue.

Dr. Westly Rosario, executive director of the National Integrated Fisheries and Technology Center and head of the BFAR center here, told The STAR yesterday that the mosquito fish “is now the center of discussion here and media attention.”

“In the past, it is just ignored. Now, it’s the star. That’s what they say, it’s weather-weather lang yan (everything has its time),” he said.

Rosario said the mosquito fish, locally known as itar or kataba in Filipino, has been at the BFAR center for a long time.

He said it was introduced as a weapon against mosquitoes because it eats mosquito larvae, especially at a time when the country was having problems with malaria.

The mosquito fish can survive on its own and even with low oxygen, he said, adding that its survival rate is 100 percent.

People became interested in it because of its “biological control,” he said.

Rosario said soon, they would forge partnerships with schools and communities on the dengue watch list, to distribute the fish and release it in canals to minimize the spread of mosquitoes.

In fact, he said some representatives of the Ilocos Sur Polytechnic State College came here the other day to ask for hundreds of mosquito fish. “We can easily give them hundreds. They are aplenty here,” he said.

Mosquito fish can also be used as food by other fish species that are carnivorous like dalag, hito, tilapia, lapu-lapu and apahap, Rosario said.

A female mosquito fish can grow up to seven centimeters long, and the male, up to four centimeters.