THE PERCH FAMILY. 107 



more common on the southern portion of the coastline of 

 the first-mentioned State, and appears to be fairly common 

 in the other States mentioned. Though usually grouped 

 with the Short-firmed Pike in the fish markets of New South 

 Wales as simply Pike, there is no difficulty in distinguishing 

 between the two. In this species, the body is very much 

 deeper and the second dorsal fin is mucJi longer, consisting 

 of about 20 rays as compared with 10 in the Short-finned 

 Pike. The anal fin also is much longer and consists of about 

 28 rays as against about n in the last-mentioned. Other 

 differences will be at once apparent to even the unpractised 

 eye of the ordinary observer; but the points mentioned are 

 quite sufficient for the separation of the two Pikes. 



The Long-finned Pike is a very voracious fish and makes 

 great havoc amongst the shoals of smaller fishes, such as 

 Yellow-tail. In Victorian markets it is known as "Skipjack 

 Pike." It is a good fish for the table. 



The general colour of this species is a light yellowish- 

 brown, washed on the sides with silver, darker on the upper 

 surface and lighter below. The fins are of a golden-yellow. 



It attains a length of about 20 inches (this size is the 

 largest I have personally measured). 



I mentioned that amongst the smaller kinds of these 

 Perches, was the little Soldier-Fish. This is only a little 

 fellow, commonly reaching a length of 3 to 4 inches. It is 

 a pretty little species with large eyes and rough scales and 

 is very prettily striped along the body whence its name of 

 "Soldier." It is common on the New South Wales coast 

 particularly at Port Jackson and probably occurs on por- 

 tions of the Victorian and Queensland coasts ; though it has 

 not so far been recorded from those places. The original 

 specimens were taken from Port Jackson, and are described 

 in White's "Voyage to New South Wales" before referred 

 to. 



