FISHES. Mcrru.ocH. 77 



REPORT OX THE FISHES. 



PART 2. 

 I. INTRODUCTION. 



Inclusive of both the marine and fresh-water forms, there are 

 about one thousand eight hundred and forty species of fishes at 

 present known from Australia. Though this number includes 

 many which will ultimately prove to be mere synonyms of the 

 others, yet it is almost certain that a complete list of the fishes 

 occurring in our waters will exceed two thousand. In their 

 excellent check-list of the fishes of Oceania 1 , Jordan and 

 Seale list one thousand seven hundred and four species, of which 

 four hundred and forty seven are Hawaiian 2 , and about 

 four hundred and eighty occur at Samoa l . The relatively 

 small islands of Japan provide one thousand two hundred and 

 thirty species 3 , while the fishes of North and Middle 

 America, which are much better known, number three thousand 

 two hundred and sixty three 4 . 



Taking into consideration the length of the Australian coast- 

 line, and its extent from far into the tropics to the cooler 

 temperate regions, we may expect to find a richness of marine 

 faiuia equal to that of any other part of the world of similar size. 

 By far the greater proportion of those already recorded are 

 known from the eastern and south-eastern parts of the continent, 

 no collecting having been systematically carried out on the 

 northern and western coasts. The present number one thousand 

 eight hundred and forty, therefore, can only be accepted, as 

 indicative of an extraordinary variety of fish-life occurring on our 

 coasts, much of which remains to be discovered. 



Further, our knowledge of the deep-sea fishes is particularly 

 meagre, being based on a few scattered hauls made by the 

 " Challenger Expedition " 5 , and more recently by the 

 " Woy Woy " G . The " Endeavour," however, has lowered a 



1 Jordan & Seale Bull. U.S. Bur. Fish., xxv., 1906, pp. 173-455. 



2 Jordan & Everniauu Bull. U.S. Fish. Comm., xxiii., pt. i., 1905. 



3 Jordan, Tanaka & Snyder Journ. Coll. Sci. Tokyo, xxxiii., Art. 1, 

 1913. 



4 Jordan & Evermann Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., No. 47, pt. iv., 1900. 



5 Gunther " Challenger" Kept., Zool., i., 880, and xxii., 1887. 



6 McCullooh Rec. Austr. Mus., vi., 1907, p. 346. 



