Ikan Keli

The Keli is a river fish and the best is the wild one with yellow spots which the Ibans call Ikan Keli Dacing . The Dacing is the Chinese Ching or weighing rod. The markings for katis and tahils are spotted or dots.

The keli is found in the Rajang and was at one time popularly farmed in ponds.

Today it is a favoured bbq fish in smoke houses all over Sarawak. It can be sold in the sun dried form, called salai keli. Keli can be as small as 500 gms and as big as 3 kg. The best keli is about 1.5 kg.



the Indigenous people of Sarawak found that some species of the catfish or keli from the rivers have spots like those in the Ching. thus they start calling this spotted catfish, ikan keli dacing.

There are more than 2000 species of this fish and it is able to survive in most places, with very little water.


Today in Malaysia the dacing is no longer used as a measuring scale because shopkeepers can use it to cheat their customers.