290 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF. 



the table. Another New South Wales representative of the genus Seriola, whose range pro- 

 bably extends to Queensland waters, is S. hippos, Gth. ; this species is known to the Sydney 

 fishermen by the title of the Samson fish. 



The tailor or skip-jack, Temnodon saltator, Bl., known also locally as the diarbi and pombah, 

 is another member of the Carangidae closely allied to Seriola. Like that, it associates in shoals ; it 

 grows to a weight of about 17 lb., and affords excellent sport, though, at the same time, owing to 

 the extreme sharpness of its closely-set teeth, it is exceedingly destructive to lines and fishing nets. 

 While it must be regarded as one of the most representative fish of Moreton Bay, the species is 

 remarkable for its extensive distribution. It occurs not only throughout the Australian coasts, 

 but also on both sides of the Atlantic, and furnishes, under the name of the "blue fish," one of 

 the most important fisheries of the United States. The tailor fish is an excellent table variety, and 

 is in best season during the winter months. In hot weather, the fiesh undergoes decomposition 

 very rapidly. A photographic representation of this cosmopolitan species is given in Plate XLIII., 

 Fig. 4. A genus of the Carangidae, represented by as many as twelve species in Queensland 

 waters, though chiefly in the northern coast-line, is that of the Equula, which may be typified 

 by E. cdentata, Bl. In form, its members somewhat resemble the bastard dorey, genus Cyttus, 

 having, in common with that type, a deeply-compressed body, an anteriorly elevated dorsal fin, and 

 a highly protractile mouth. The species, while in all instances edible, do not attain to large dimen- 

 sions. The bat fish, Psettiis argciitetis, L., popularly relegated to the breams, is another represen- 

 tative of the Carangidae, commonly taken from Moreton Bay northwards, which is reckoned among 

 the food-fishes of both this colony and of New South Wales. The popular name given to it is 

 apparently associated with the somewhat wing-shaped development of the dorsal and anal fins. 



A larger species of bat fish, identical with the Stroniateus niger, Bl. of the Indian seas 

 (and, excepting for the elongate pectoral fin, much resembling in shape the common bat or 

 diamond fish of Moreton Bay), although not hitherto associated with an Australian habitat, is 

 occasionally captured from the lightships in northern waters, and also in the neighbourhood 

 of Cairns and Townsville, where it is known respectively by the titles of blue skate and 

 holibut. It is most excellent eating, grows to a length of two feet, with a weight of many 

 pounds, and is of a dark blue slate-colour when taken freshly from the water. A photographic- 

 ally reproduced illustration of this valuable food fish, which, according to Dr. Day, appears 

 at certain seasons in shoals off the Malabar coast, is given in Fig. 4 of Plate XLIV. The 

 genus Platax, belonging to the same family of the Carangidae, contains two good edible 

 species which, in MacLeay's " Australian Fishes," are associated respectively with a Port 

 Darwin and a New Guinea habitat. The first of these, Platax orbicularis, Forsk., is tolerably 

 plentiful at Bowen, and thence northward to Thursday Island. Its common name is the silver 

 dorey ; it is also an excellent table fish, and grows to a weight of seven or eight pounds. Platax 

 teira, Forsk., the second species, which rarelj' exceeds one pound in weight, is remarkable for 



