Setting his sights on a fishy record

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalorem June 03: D Anil Bangera, D. Anil Bangera, who holds a 1999 Limca record for peeling three coconuts with his teeth in 4.30 minutes, is once again in news for developing an unusual hobby of collecting otoliths from the heads of fish by chance.

 

 

He is now contemplating to take it all the way in to the Limca Book of Records.

He said that, he got the idea of setting another record when he read about the Human Story section of the Limca records. “I wanted to set another record. Since we eat a lot of fish here in Mangalore, I looked for a way to set a record on something to do with fish. Once when I was eating fish, I found an otolith in its head, and since then I have been collecting them,” he said.

For the last three years, this 44-year-old mechanic has been collecting otoliths. Mr. Bangera has collected otoliths from disco fish, flatfish, catfish, and what are locally known as koddai, kalluru, madhumal meen, kaane, payye, and ada meen. His collection now comprises a total of 700 pieces.

“Not all the otoliths are of the same size and shape, but they are mostly white. If you don’t clean them immediately after you remove them (from cooked fish), they get discoloured,” Mr. Bangera said.

In a live demonstration, he took a bite from some of the cooked fish he had brought, and showed presspersons the otoliths which emerged from them. “I am planning to send photos and a video of this event to the Limca Book of Records. I don’t think anyone has set such a record. I think I will get the certificate (of the record),” he said.

Thehindu