320 



DISCOVERY REPORTS 



Reference was made to Dr Albert Gunther's opinion (1887, p. 157) that 'it is not probable that it 

 descends to the same great depths as the other Macriin, and to several strandings of the species in 

 Cook Straits, which have also been referred to by other New Zealand writers. It is interesting to find 

 that the essentially shoal-water habitat of the genus was recognized so early, in the days when it was 

 still classed with the macrurids. 



At the time of which Waite was writing it was thought that M. novae-zelandiae would be unmarket- 

 able in New Zealand, and I have not found any recent reference to its being utilized. It is evident, 

 however, that New Zealanders suffer less from traditional inhibitions as to what constitutes a good 

 food fish than some older communities, for we learn from Phillipps (1921) that Coelorhynchus australis, 

 occasionally trawled in deep water in Golden Bay, is highly esteemed under the name of 'javelin-fish ', 

 and that large Callorhynchus sell well in Christchurch as 'silver trumpeter'. The nearest equivalents 

 of both these species would certainly be discarded as rubbish by British trawlers. Since we found the 

 Patagonian species of Macruronus most excellent eating I therefore venture to suggest that an attempt 

 to market the New Zealand one might prove well worth while. 



By way of summarizing our findings as to the bionomics of M. magellanicus, it seems both interesting 

 and profitable to compare and contrast it with its near ally, the Patagonian hake : 



Comparison and contrast of the main features in the bionomics of Merluccius 

 hubbsi and Macruronus magellanicus 



GADIDAE 



Micromesistiiis australis Norman was discovered during the first of the surveys described here. 

 Norman (1937, pp. 51-2) has pointed out its close relationship to M. poutassou of the Mediterranean 

 and north-eastern Atlantic. So far as I have been able to determine, it is the only ' typical ' gadid 

 with three dorsal fins known to occur in south temperate and subpolar waters. At St. WS 80, E. R. 



