At the end of January last year, O photographer came to Thailand from Japan, and we decided to go to Cambodia together to search for fish. Compared to Thailand, where people can move freely, Cambodia is less secure and there are still landmines in some places, so there is still little information about freshwater tropical fish. Usually, I entered Koh Kong in Cambodia from the eastern border of Thailand and only explored the surrounding area, but after passing through several times and finishing exploring the most interesting places, I decided to move on to a new place. I became interested. Given the situation, it was a good opportunity to have more people accompanying me. Just like in Laos, car charter fees are extremely high in Cambodia, so if you increase the number of people traveling with you and split the cost, you can save money. Due to scheduling and safety issues, we decided on Sihanoukville, further east from Koh Kong, as our destination, and headed from Thailand to Cambodia.

The purpose of this trip was to photograph all fish and aquatic plants. From the border of Hatrek, the easternmost point of Thailand, we enter Koh Kong, Cambodia, and from there we charter a car and head to our destination. If I come across a good point along the way, I stop the car and proceed while collecting and photographing. First, we observed Cryptocoryne in the Blackwater River, about 2 hours drive from the town of Koh Kong. I discovered the Blackwater River here about two years ago. Thinking that Cryptocoryne must be growing naturally in this environment, I went into the forest to explore it, and as expected, I found a beautiful colony in this river of memories. In addition to Cryptocoryne, there are fish species similar to those found on the Malay Peninsula on the opposite shore of the Gulf of Siam, including fish of the carp family and members of the catfish family. When you see things like this, the continental drift theory that the Malay Peninsula separated from the Indochina Peninsula becomes quite convincing. It would be a great discovery if it were found in the Palosphromenus genus Licorice Gouramies and Chocolate Gouramies, but unfortunately I have not seen it yet.

Now, going back to Cryptocoryne, this was the dry season and the water level was low, so there were many clusters that had changed to floating leaves, and in such places, many plants had extended their unique flower capsules. Judging from this flower, I think it is close to Cordata, or the same species, but I have not examined it closely, so I cannot say for sure. However, the pretty flowers blooming in clusters are always beautiful to look at.
Well, the journey is long, so as soon as I finish shooting, I'll be on my way again. When I find a notable wetland or river, I try to cast a net, but all the bettas are dull-colored Prima, and I can't catch any of the splendens group of fish that make bubble nests.

In the meantime, we arrived near Sihanoukville. I also tried putting a net in the wetlands I noticed. Then I caught a small, bright red fish. It looks bright red like Boraras melar or Brigittae, but its lines and other characteristics are that of Urophthalmoides. I have collected Urophthalmoides many times in southern Thailand and near Bangkok, but this is the first time I have seen one so bright red. It is interesting to see whether the color variation is due to the environment or time of year, or whether it is a variation in color depending on the place of production.

Then another interesting fish came into the net. It is a wild betta from the Splendence group that you are looking for. I have been searching for this fish in quite a few different places, but I have never found any fish between Koh Kong and Sihanoukville. Even if you put a net in a place that seems to be a habitat, only Betta Prima come in. I don't have any grudge against Prima, but if the fish are all the same, I'm not impressed at all, and even if I catch them, I end up releasing them without putting them in a plastic bag.

Well, we finally found a fish that we could get serious about, and we all scooped it up in the shallows of the wetland with our nets. An old man from the neighborhood called out to see what had started. When I showed her the fish I had caught, she said that it was easier to catch these kinds of fish with this net than with a small hand net, so she brought a large saran net and lent it to me. However, the net seemed to be effective against swimming fish, but it did not seem to be very effective against betta fish hiding among the grass, so it was of little use. However, I am deeply grateful for the kindness of the local people. We collected until dusk, but the number of individuals seemed to be small, so we were not able to collect many on that day.

That night, I stayed at a cheap hotel in Sihanoukville and reviewed the beta in my room. At first I thought she was Splendens from Wild, but I feel like she has a different color. That makes me want it even more. The next day, on my way back to Cocon, I tried to collect bettas again from the same spot, but as expected, there weren't many bettas, and I was only able to collect about 20 to 30 bettas in total, including the ones from the previous day. Unfortunately, by the time we returned to Bangkok after completing this collecting trip, only about 5 of them were still alive and well. This fish was carefully brought back to Japan by O photographer who accompanied him. Since then, this betta has grown and seems to have undergone a major transformation. The gill cover does not have the two red stripes that are characteristic of Splendens, but is dyed blue like Inveris. The color pattern of its fins is also very similar to Inbelis. Inbelis also inhabits the southern part of Thailand, but it has not been reported from the Indochina Peninsula. As with Cryptocoryne, it all makes sense if you consider that the Indochina Peninsula and the Malay Peninsula were connected in the distant past.

In May of this year, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go to Sihanoukville in Cambodia again. What immediately came to mind was that mysterious Beta from the Splendense group. Next time, I would like to transport it more carefully, bring it back to Japan myself, and photograph it. With this in mind, I visited its former habitat and found that although the water level had risen, it remained almost as it was.

I immediately put in my net, but as expected, there aren't many of them, so it's not easy to catch them. The red Boraras urophthalmoides, which I had caught quite a bit last time, was nowhere to be seen and I couldn't collect them. Even in the same place, the fish species that can be seen in different seasons change considerably. This is why when searching in the field, even if you have set your net once, you will need to try again when the season changes.

While I was doing this, the long-awaited betta fish came into the net. This time it's a little bigger than the last time. Some individuals are already colored, but their cheeks are still blue and there are no red lines. There are a lot of large leeches in this wetland, which bite into your legs and make it difficult to concentrate on collecting. When I get out of the water, the first thing I do is check for leeches. If you don't pull it off before it devours you, you'll end up covered in blood afterwards. Despite these hardships, we were able to complete the collection and bring almost all of the specimens back to Bangkok in good condition.

The selected fish were brought back to Japan, where they were carefully raised and raised to near perfection, and photographed at the end of August. While breeding this time, I realized that this betta fish is similar to Inveris, but there are some differences. It is unclear whether this is the basis for classifying it as a separate species, but it can definitely be distinguished at the level of regional variation. The first difference is the pattern of the tail fin. This species has irregular black spots centered on the upper part of the caudal fin. Some individuals have a similar approach to Betta stictos. The blue on the cheeks and the way the blue enters the sides of the body are also different from Inveris. It is also larger than Inveris, and its pelvic fins are well extended, giving it the impression of being quite long. As far as I know, the splendens that lives in Khlong Yai, Thailand (approximately 150 km away from Sihanoukville) is the closest to this fish, but it is a completely different species (see the back of this column for information on the splendens in Thailand). Please see the number).

This betta has different characteristics than any currently described wild betta of the Splendens group. These detailed features cannot be seen just by scooping them up with a net. I was once again reminded of the importance of keeping and observing fish in an aquarium. Currently, I am inquiring about this betta fish from an ichthyologist I know in Europe. If I have any interesting findings, I would like to report them again in this column.

Fortunately, it is not difficult to raise this betta fish, and it is possible to raise it without particularly adjusting the water quality. However, compared to other Splendens group fish, they are a little more timid and tend to hide in the shadows. This made filming difficult. Breeding is not particularly difficult, and has already been successfully done by a Japanese enthusiast. Although it is a splendens group of fish that does not receive much attention compared to other wild bettas, I would like it to become more popular as an ornamental fish.