In Isabela we call that fish “IFUN”. We usually cook it with onions, eggs and tomatoes. Yummy!

thanks for this post. now I know it’s dulong for most of luzon and ipon for Ilocos and many other interesting names in other regions.

We in Iloilo have this confusion too over what they really are. Thus, I encouraged a student to do a research about it. Apparently, in Panay alone, there are many names. It’s LOBO-LOBO to us in the city; it’s MARAGBAS or sometimes BISYA to Guimbal, Miagao and San Joaquin. It’s HUMOY-HUMOY to some parts of Antique.

In a particular town, ah yes, I remember now, CULASI, they have this specialty product made from these tiny fish. They call it PININDANG. These are molded flat to a shape and sun-dried. The resulting product is like a wide rectangular flat chip.(I’m not sure that’s a vivid description, pardon me). Anyway, it’s fried crisp and served with a salad of tomatoes, onions and red egg with a vinegar dip.

These tiny fish are actually anchovy fries. When they mature, we refer to them as DILIS (BALINGON to us Ilonggos).My student deduced that there will be as many names to this dulong and its regional equivalents as there are many species of anchovies. So to specifically identify the specie while it is still a fry is extremely difficult. Even our fisheries professors have a hard time with it.