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Jun 20, 2023

'I was surprised but happy!': 2nd grader finds rare albino loach in Japan rice paddy

August 6, 2023 (Mainichi Japan) Japanese version ISUMI, Chiba -- A second grader in this eastern Japan city recently found a rare pale orange loach believed to be an albino in a rice paddy near his

August 6, 2023 (Mainichi Japan)

Japanese version

ISUMI, Chiba -- A second grader in this eastern Japan city recently found a rare pale orange loach believed to be an albino in a rice paddy near his home.

Albino loaches, which have a genetic mutation resulting in a lack of melanin pigmentation, are rarely found because their conspicuous color makes them easy targets for predators.

Taiga Tsuchiya, 7, caught the albino loach, and his mother Asuka, 39, passed on the news via the "Tsunagaru Mainichi Shimbun" reader submission form. Taiga said that he had found the rare fish in a rice field on his route to school.

Asuka explained that she went to rice paddies with Taiga and his younger brother Aoto, 2, at around 3 p.m. on June 29. They saw loaches and crayfish at the point where the paddies were drawing water from an irrigation canal. Taiga used a net to scoop out the mud from the bottom and found several loaches in the net. One of them was light-colored. Taiga was pleased to find it at a place where he usually plays, looking for loaches, killifish and other creatures. "I was surprised but happy!" he said.

Albino loaches are characterized by their white or yellow body color and red eyes. The loach found this time was about 6 centimeters long. Kaoru Sato, an education and promotion staffer at the Tokyo Sea Life Park aquarium in the capital's Edogawa Ward, said he believes the animal is an adult hatched about a year ago. Based on the location where the loach was found, he says it was born and matured in the wild. Sato said, "Albino (loaches) don't have protective coloring and stand out, making them easy targets for predators and lowering their survival rate. It's rare for an albino to grow to adulthood in the wild."

Taiga is keeping the fish in an aquarium at home, along with five other loaches and a goby that he caught at the same time. Asuka said that Taiga does not seem to understand how rare albino loaches are, but every day he peeks into the tank, saying, "Where is it today?"

Asuka, who is from the neighboring city of Katsuura, used to play on the shore every day when she was a child, catching mullets, grass puffers and other fish. She has let her children actively encounter water creatures and insects in the hope that they too will become familiar with living things. She smiled and said, "I was also surprised to find an albino in a rice paddy in our neighborhood. I hope that my children will learn the importance of life by touching and caring for living creatures and grow up to be kind people."

(Japanese original by Tamiko Kobayashi, Chiba Bureau)

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The original Japanese article was written based on information received via "Tsunagaru Mainichi Shimbun," a submission form for journalism on demand. If there are any subjects you'd like us to cover, please contact us via: https://mainichi.jp/tsunagaru/