SKIPPERS AND FLYERS. 39 



In color it is greenish above, being darker towards the 

 head. The lower half is of a dirty whitish tint; or, when 

 fresh, a semi-transparent, pale, yellowish-green. There is a 

 broad silvery band on each side. As in the other garfishes, 

 the end of the beak and the membrane below it are very 

 brightly tinted. 



Skipper Garfish {Scoinbresox forsteri). 



This fish, though at jM-esent rather an uncommon visitor 

 to our fish markets, is one of those which will probably at 

 times be brought in in very considerable numbers when our 

 coastal ocean waters are systematically worked. It is a 

 purely pelagic species, and does not often penetrate the 

 harbours or estuaries. It attains commonly a length of 

 about 12 or 13 inches. 



During November, 1906, immense shoals of half-grown 

 Skipper Garfish were present in our waters, and a fisherman 

 who captured a number just inside the Port Jackson heads, 

 considered that he could have obtained twenty boatloads in 

 the one haul. 



This species may be identified by the following char- 

 acters: — The color of the back is a deep bluish-green or an 

 olive-green; while the belly and sides are brilliantly silvery. 

 It possesses a number of small finlets behind both the dorsal 

 and anal fins (somewhat similar to those of the Mackerel 

 family). Instead of there being only one jaw produced so 

 as to form a beak, as in the other garfishes, in the Skipper 

 both are prolonged, and are thin and flexible, reminding one 

 somewhat of the beak of the bird known as the Avocet; 

 excepting that the beak is not curved as it is in the bird 

 mentioned. 



Flying Fishes. 



Two species of edible Flying Fishes are at present 

 known to occur, at times in considerable numbers, in the 

 waters of New South Wales. The larger of these is Cypsilurus 

 melanocercus ; and this attains a length of about 16 inches. 



