kan Terubuk is Tenualosa toli, a shad of the Clupeidae family, available in western Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal to the Java Sea, and the South China Sea. It inhabits fast-flowing, turbid estuaries and adjacent coastal waters.
Terubuks are Hermaphrodites protandrous . Meaning that, male terubuks can produce eggs. Males spawn in their first year, then return to spawn as females in the next season. After this, they die. A short 2 years-plus lifespan. The males are called empirit, and the females, terubuk.
Survival rate of terubuk hatchings is 1 or 2 out of 500,000 ! Which explains the decline of the fish population in Sarawak waters. Thus, it is not surprise to learn that most salted terubuk consumed in Malaysia is imported from Indian and Bangladesh.
Overfishing and loss of habitat has depleted the population alarmingly in S.E.Asia, with only Sarawak left as its only habitat. Terubuk used to be found in the Straits of Malacca, but siltation of estuaries due to tin mining, caused its extinction.
5 medium size ( about 20cm length ) of salted terubuk fish, weight about 1 kg, cost RM25. Salted terubuk eggs cost about RM300/kg.
