The boulder rocks, or Intertidal Boulders, near the shorelines in Tanjung Bidara is crowded with varied organisms that thrive on the wet and moldy surface, some sessile, some mobile. Sessile organisms on the rock surface include teritip, algae, basically living organisms that do not move.
While the mobile ones, as the name suggests, include snails, crabs and other crustaceans. From far, the communities on the rock surface look like unsightly love handles hanging around the otherwise muscular boulders.
Growing teritip
The boulders by the brown sandy beach in the outskirt of Melaka are the source of side income for Pak Ramli, or more fondly, Haji Ram, a fisherman who harvests teritip, baby oysters – the ingredients for ‘O Jien’ or oyster omelets – during low tide season, when the boulder is not submerged in water.
Haji Ram
Haji Ram carries with him a metal rod that has a hook on one end, empty milk can, and a fork.
The dun-toothed old man picks a teritip that is more than 1.5” wide; otherwise, the flesh is too little for the effort. The wider part of the teritip is the face, where it opens up to feed when there is water, while the sharper end is the behind.
Knocking on the broader part on the teritip, Haji Ram pulls the grayish cover upward. The juicy larva is now exposed, which he picks out with the back of the fork.
On a good day, Haji Ram will do this for a few hours until the harvest fills up a milk can. On average, for two weeks in a month (during low tide season), Haji Ram would be able to fetch RM50 per day. If a specific request comes in, usually Chinese hawker, he would fill up the milk can and charge RM75 for the hard labour.
Promoting growth
When the larva is picked out of the shell, its eggs would drip on the rock surface and a new breeding cycle would take place, hence promoting growth. Besides harvesting the teritip for a living, Haji Ram is also regulating its growth, keeping the community on the boulder from dying. If left untouched, the community would reduce to mold and algae.
Life by the beach
On a good day, a fisherman would be able to pick up two loads of catch (dua pikul), approximately 120kgs. While that may sound a lot, it is hardly a daily celebration.
When the weather turns against them, they have to be patient and wait out the torrential rain and storm. Patience has to be virtue in this part of the world.
As I walk on the rock surface, stepping on layers of teritip beneath my feet, I am ashamed of my oblivion – folks here live a hard life. However hard life may be, everyone here still has a smile to spare.