Clarke. — On the Mangrove Fish. 97 



Sir J. Hector (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. vii., p. 245) as the 

 " parore." Subsequent examintxtion disclosed that it was a 

 Girella, not simplex, on account of its different scale enumera- 

 tion, specially marked colouration, proportions, and its teeth 

 being all tricuspid. I then made my coloured drawing, and 

 prepared a very full description, as, though in some particulars 

 it resembled simplex, in others it does tricuspidata, and in 

 colouration Tephrosops zebra—which, according to Giinther's 

 Catalogue, is known from a drawing only, and is attributed 

 to King George's Sound (West Australia). 



I was much pleased, on visiting the waters of the far north 

 of this Island lately, to find that my specimen was the parore, 

 a fish excessively plentiful on the water-covered mangrove- 

 flats and generally about the harbours, it being a great nui- 

 sance to the mullet-fishermen on account of its unwittingly 

 occupying net-space which they consider should properly 

 belong to the more valuable fish they seek to capture, and, 

 moreover, being a very painful fish to handle in taking out of 

 the mesh, as it has stout and sharp dorsal spines which it 

 knows how to use. As I also found out, they occasionally 

 play on the surface, when in a shoal, somewhat after a 

 method also followed by the kanae, and therefore in the early 

 morning, or just at dusk, deceive the netter, who encloses his 

 fish under the impression that he has successfully surrounded 

 kanae, instead of their (so-called) " lovely sweet-briars " (a 

 nickname given them, I apprehend, from an equal or greater 

 facility for affording their victims acquaintance with their 

 prickles). 



As the tide rises over the mangrove-flats you may see these 

 fish feeding in hundreds at times, frequently in such shallow 

 water that when scraping the confervoid or diatomaceous 

 growths from the bottom or from the tougher weeds, small 

 mangrove-shoots, &c., which are covered with the same, and 

 feeding head downwards, the tails of dozens will simultane- 

 ously appear out of the water with a very comical effect. 

 They take the tips of the stronger seaweeds, small kelps, &c., 

 into their mouths, and then, backing, strip the vegetable, &c., 

 growths therefrom. This they do both off the more exposed 

 shores as well as over the mangrove-flats, &c. I never could 

 get them to take a bait, as might be expected from their 

 feeding habits ; nor did I ever hear of them being taken 

 on a line, though I have taken, and seen taken, in Sydney 

 Harbour the so-called "black-perch" {Girellce simplex and 

 tricuspidata), but the mussel bait used had always to be 

 "masked" with a piece of fine seaweed or Zostera. The 

 pecuhar "stripping" feeding habit they have, as described, 

 is also common to the kanae (Mugd perusvi, &c.) frequenting 

 the same waters. I have known of as many as fifty dozen of 

 7 



