23 



A Complete List of 



With 



The Edible Fishes of '"'',!?*' 

 New South Wales. 



upon 

 each Species. 



'^ 



In the following pages an attempt has been made to bring 

 before the reader a " bird's-eye view " of the whole of the 

 known edible fishes inhabiting the waters of New South 

 Wales — both fiuviatile and marine. But before proceeding, 

 perhaps it is necessary for me to explain the exact meaning 

 of the term " edible," as used by me. By that, I mean 

 all of those fishes which — while not being of a noxious or 

 unpleasant character (such as Toad-Fishes, Porcupine-Fishes, 

 &c.) — attain a marketable size, or else occur in sufficient 

 abundance to render them of use as adjuncts to our food 

 supply. Strictly speaking, of course, using the term in its 

 widest application, it would necessarily include a host of 

 small fry, like the Gobies, Blennies, &c.; but with one or 

 two exceptions, such as these are not here taken into account. 



The order followed in treating of these fishes is that used 

 by me in my " Fishes of Australia," (igo6); and that is the 

 true systematic order, which is as near as possible the natural 

 one. Alphabetical order, which is so convenient in many 

 respects, has here some very grave drawbacks; the principal 

 of which is that fishes having no relation with one another, 

 and which may be very different in habits, &c., are grouped 

 together, through the terminal in the vernacular name 

 being the same. (Familiar instances of this are the Red Cod 

 and the Murray Cod ; the first of which is a kind of Cod, 

 while the second is a true Perch.) The binomial nature of 

 our vernacular nomenclature also militates to some extent 

 against an alphabetical arrangement. 



