FOOD AND FANCY FISHES. 283 



The genus Diagramma includes a group of sea-perches, represented by six species belonging 

 chiefly to the tropical districts of the Queensland seaboard. All the known species have a 

 favourable reputation as food fishes, and some attain to the considerable length of three or four 

 feet. An excellent table fish belonging to the perch family, occasionally taken in Moreton Bay and 

 further north, but having apparently no vernacular name, is knov^^n technically by the title of 

 Lobotes atictoriuii, Gth. The species is remarkable for its extensive range, it having been recorded 

 from Australia, the East Indies, and the Atlantic coast-lines of tropical and temperate America. 

 It inhabits both salt and brackish W'ater, and attains to a length of tv^'o feet. In shape, excepting 

 for the absence of filamentous rays to the ventral fins, it somewhat resembles the celebrated 

 gourami, Ospliromemts olfa.x, Hardw., of Java, Borneo, and other islands of the East Indian 

 Archipelago. In allusion to its dark sombre hue, this fish has been associated by the author with the 

 title of the "Queensland dusky perch." An extensive genus of the sea perches that requires 

 mentioning is that of Gerres. It includes two edible Queensland species, which are popularly 

 classified among the breams ; one is the Gerres filamentosus, C. & Val., sometimes taken in 

 Moreton Bay, but more abundant northwards, and the other the so-called deep pouter, or deep- 

 bellied bream, G. profititdiis, Mel., recorded from Cardwell and the inter-tropical coast-line generally. 



A handsome representative of the perch family, Genyoroge Sebcr, C. & V., commonly taken 

 throughout the Barrier district as far south as Port Denison, and also in the Gulf of Carpentaria, 

 is popularly known to Bowen fishermen as the " government bream," and has received its 

 distinctive title with reference to the broad-arrow-like mark, with the point directed vertically, 

 which decorates each side. It grows to a weight of several pounds, is much esteemed for the 

 table, and has been forwarded in some quantities, in a smoked condition, from Sweer's Island in 

 the "Gulf" to the Normanton and Croydon markets. When alive in the water, or freshly taken 

 from the sea, the ground colour of this fish is nearly white, with pale pink edges to the scales, the 

 characteristic broad-arrow-like bands being a bright red. On removal from its native element, these 

 tints quickly darken, the white ground turning to red, and the arrow-shaped mark almost to black. 

 Among the smaller edible species of the perch familj', a small fish, Synagris tceniopterus, C. & 

 v., marked with longitudinal bands of pale rose and lemon-yellow, is very commonly caught with 

 hand-lines from the ships, when anchored for the night, in their course through the reefs up and 

 down the coast. It possesses a delicacy of flavour somewhat resembling that of the European 

 red mullet, and when cooked after the same manner, in buttered paper, is much esteemed for the 

 table. The gold perch is the popular title by which this species is commonly known in North 

 Queensland waters. Two other small fish, allied to the form last described, are not unfrequently 

 taken with the line, on the pearl-shelling grounds in the Torres Strait, and are regarded as a 

 welcome addition to the table. Both species are remarkable for the long filamentous appen- 

 dage that is developed from the upper lobe of the caudal fin ; the larger of the two, Dentex 

 filifer, Cast., may be distinguished as the long-tailed perch ; the smaller species, Pcntapiis 



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