When a lake takes on a new character

During a heavy monsoon, the Kelambakkam brackishwater system undergoes a sea change — actually, freshwater change. And here is what that means for fish and man

During the north-east monsoon — especially the kind witnessed in 2015 and probably the one under way now — Kelambakkam lake should go with an alternative carte de visite. It undergoes a temporary change in character, acquiring an enhanced status. During heavy floods, the lake is flush with fish, some not its own. The calling card should be embossed with an image where a trevally shares the frame with a carp.

The lake is always home to brackishwater fish. And in unusual times, it is also “refugee camp” to freshwater fish violently ejected out of their habitats: the freshwater lakes and ponds nearby.

In the evening hours of November 28, despite the skies behaving like a stubborn zipper that would not close up, an informal fish market had sprung up on the narrow landing of a bridge on Kelambakkam-Kovalam Link Road. While hawking the catch from the lake, the sellers seemed its perfect spokespersons, indirectly advertising the lake’s enhanced diversity.