A window to exotic sea life

Sea life at a glance... Hasanul Haq Iqbal at his museum (left) and a rare variety of crab along with other species (right). The photo was taken on Friday.. PHOTO: STAR

They have set up a sea fish museum where rare species can be seen.

Hasanul Haq Iqbal of Narail and Manjour Alom of Dhaka came to visit Kuakata in November 2001.

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Enchanted by the beauty of the sea and its resources in the wild, they thought the exotic species could be put together for visitors.

"We talked to some fishermen and they said they could collect for us live fishes and other animals", Iqbal told this correspondent.

They hired a house and built big aquariums. "With much care, we started collecting rare varieties of deep sea fishes", he said.

The number is 84 now. The collection includes Rangdhanu Crab, Khatak, Patka, Reha, Stapvol, Jungle Terana, Shapla Burol, Bata, Latiar and such other aquatic living beings.

A 12-feet Potka fish weighing six kilograms will draw anybody's attention. It cost them Tk four lakh, Iqbal said.

"Last year, a South Korea tourist was surprised to see the collection of crabs and asked me why it is not exported", he said.

The museum remains open for visitors during the whole day the year round. The two friends charge only Tk five as entry fee.