A type of edible freshwater fish found in Southeast Asia, sometimes called the barred mudskipper or similar species.
From Filipino/Tagalog 'balita,' a word of unclear ultimate origin, possibly derived from local naming traditions or proto-Malayo-Polynesian roots related to fish identification.
Different languages around the world developed completely independent names for the fish they saw in their local waters—'balita' is a perfect example of how Southeast Asian languages created their own fish vocabulary!
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