158 



•ON A LARVAL TELEOST FROM NEW SOUTH WALES 



By J. Douglas Ogilby. 



The onl}" notice of a " leptocephalid " from the New South 

 Wales coast of which I have been able to find any record is that 

 of Mr. Waite (Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, (2) ix. 1895, p. 225), 

 who mentions two examples, which may possibly Ijelong to 

 •different species, from Port Jackson and Maroubra, but gives no 

 description b}" which our form ma}' be distinguished from such 

 as may occur on other parts of the Australian coast. Mr. Waite's 

 examples were noticed under the heading of ^^ Lejitocephalus sp. " 

 but this generic name having been primarily used by Scopoli in 

 1777 for the larval form of the conger eel (the Ahtrcena conger of 

 Linnjfius, 1758) cannot be applied to the present fish, being 

 necessarily restricted to the ti"ue congers, the type of which must 

 therefore be known as Leptocephalus conger. 



As three examples have lately come into my hands I propose 

 to give here such a description as will enable Australian scientists 

 to recognise our form. 



My first specimen was obtained early in the j^resent month on 

 the beach at La Perouse, and came ashore alive at my feet, the 

 wind being at the time light and off the land, the bay without a 

 ripple, and the tide on a strong ebb; I mention these particulars 

 to show that there were no perceptible extraneous influences at 

 work of sufficient importance to account for the stranding. My 

 other two specimens were collected at Maroubra by Mr. White- 

 legge, and kindly handed over to me for the purposes of this 

 paper. 



An examination of these larvje reveals so many points of 

 difference between our fish and the Leptocephalus morrisii of the 

 European Seas as to leave no room for doubt that they constitute 

 the larval forms of two very distinct genera of fishes; but until 

 we are in a position to keep such larvte in confinement, and ,so 

 observe and record every phase of their development, any attempt 



