1 66 FISHES OF AUSTRALIA. 



of the body; while in S. commersonii there are indistinct 

 vertical bars and no spots. 



At times immense shoals of these fishes visit the shores 

 of New South Wales ; but no notice is taken of them in a 

 commercial way at present, though there appears to be every 

 possibility of a lucrative fishery being established on our 

 coast some day. 



A few years ago, a large shoal of Spanish Mackerel 

 "ran ashore" on a beach a little to the south of Wollongong, 

 N.S.W., a mound of them about 2 miles in length being 

 naturally formed from their numbers. Doubtless these had 

 been pursued by either Dolphins ("Porpoises") or Sharks. 



One of the Spanish Mackerels in America, closely allied 

 to our two, is S. maculatus. This fish is now one of the 

 most highly-esteemed of all American fishes, always com- 

 manding a high price. The catch in 1897 amounted to 

 1,183,456 pounds, worth nearly 14,000. May the time 

 be not far distant when we will have catches of our oceanic 

 fishes approximating to this amount ! 



THE BARRACOUTA FAMILY. 



( Family : Trichiuridce. ) 



THIS family is an important one from an economic point 

 of view, because it includes in its number, the well-known 

 Barracouta (Thyrsites atun). Altogether, in this family 

 there are about 25 species, widely distributed and of a 

 pelagic nature ; some of them being found in the great ocean 

 depths, while others are surface-fishes, living in the vicinity 

 of coastlines. In all of these, the body is elongate and com- 

 pressed ; sometimes being even band-like. Their jaws are 

 usually armed with strong teeth. In addition to the Barra- 

 couta, which, undoubtedly, must have first place, amongst 

 the more striking forms occurring on the Australian coast, 

 might be mentioned, the Australian Hairtail (Trichiurus 



