AN IMPORTANT FOOD-FISH. QI 



roaming about in the harbor ol' Port Jackson in shoals, 

 hundreds of men and boys Hne the wharves, all endeavour- 

 ing to entice the lish to take their liait — which is not a very 

 difficult feat to accomjilish, as a Tailer is usually too hungry 

 to stop to see whether there is anything attached to the bait. 

 Shoals of the full-grown fish also often make their appear- 

 ance in the harbors, but, as a rule, these prefer the oi)en 

 sea. However, the adults arc nearly always present — either 

 singly or in small groups — in the harbors and lakes. In 

 Port Jackson and other localities when a net is hauled 

 ashore, not unconmronly half a mullet will be picked out of 

 the net; usually the head part. When one sees this he knows 

 that " Master Tailer " has been busy ; for it is a habit of 

 this fish, that when he cannot take in the whole of a fish 

 he takes as large a portion as he can comfortably — or, 

 perhaps, uncomfortably — swallow: snapping it off with his 

 wonderful steel-trap-like jaws. It is a most absorbing and 

 interesting sight to see two or three Tailer " rushing " a 

 small shoal of mullet on, sa}', a shallow, sandy flat. They 

 race along with almost lightning speed, sweeping round now 

 and again in the most graceful curves, cleaving the water 

 at the surface with their blue backs, and sending the little 

 ripples and eddies away on each side of them. Though at 

 times great numbers of large fish could be captured by our 

 fishermen, no special iishery for this species 3'et exists on 

 our coast; the principal reason being that the fish decomposes 

 so rapidly after death, this rendering it what is called a " bad 

 fish for market." This is very regrettable, as a freshly 

 caught and cooked Tailer is of fine flavor and fit to grace 

 the best tables. 



By the foregoing remarks I do not wish to imply that 

 the Tailer is not already recognised as an important food- 

 fish, because in the yearly aggregate a considerable amount 

 is sold (and it is well-known that a freshly caught and cooked 

 Tailer is of fine flavor, and is fit to grace the best tables,/, 

 but these are chiefly captured with other species, and form 

 but an infinitesimal proportion of the enormous shoals which 

 abound in our waters. Under present conditions, if these 



