Description
‘Gapu’ is our name for the suckerfish, a unique saltwater fish that attaches itself to other fish as a freeloading, opportunistic feeder. Gapu fingerlings would be caught and raised in specially made tidal ponds until fully grown. Fishermen would attach coconut fiber husk cord (migi uru) to its tail and drop them overboard to it seek and attach itself to dugong, turtle or some large, slow-moving fish, then slowly and gently hauled to the surface. Sometimes they would hunt at night, but mostly in the late afternoon. Highly valued, the Gapu was also used as a prized totem by some tribes.
