FOOD AND FANCY FISHES. 301 



nasutus, Cast., attains the (for an anchovy) considerable length of six or seven inches, and has a 

 much deeper body than the European type. It appears in shoals, at certain seasons and usually 

 after the rains, in Moreton Bay, its distribution extending thence to the northern seaboard, through- 

 out the Malay Archipelago and India. In the last-named regions it already forms an important 

 and valuable commercial product. As reported by Dr. Cantor in his "Catalogue of Malayan 

 Fishes." — In Java, Sumatra, and the Straits of Malacca, large quantities of this anchovy are pre- 

 served for both home consumption and exportation to India, or China, in the foiMii of a condiment 

 known as "red fish," or, in the Malayan language, " Ikan Merah." The Malay process of prepara- 

 tion is exceeding simple, being as follows : — After removal of their heads, the fishes are cleaned, 

 salted (in the proportion of one of salt to eight parts of fish) and placed in flat glazed earthen 

 vessels. In these they are submitted to pressure for three days, by means of stones, placed on thin 

 boards or dried plantain leaves. The fish are next freed from salt and saturated with vinegar of 

 cocoa palm toddy; there are then added powdered ginger and black pepper, the latter mostl}^ 

 entire, and some brandy and powdered "red rice" {Oryza sativa, var. glntinosa) steeped in an in- 

 fusion of cochineal. After having been kept for three days, a little more vinegar is added, before 

 placing the fish in well-closed jars or bottles. They should be kept four or five months without 

 being used. The expense of preparing a quart bottle of this condiment is about 30 cents, the 

 selling price one Spanish dollar. There is no reason whj- the shoals of this same anchovy, that 

 periodically abound in Queensland waters, should not be turned to a similar practical and profit- 

 able account. 



Of the herrings proper, genus Clupea, no less than eight Queensland species have been 

 recorded. Some of these, at certain times of the }"ear, are exceedingly plentiful, but none of them 

 have up to the present time been utilised in this colony for commercial purposes. The majority 

 of these herrings have an inter-tropical distribution, many of them, as in the case of the anchovy 

 already referred to, being highly esteemed for food throughout the Malay Archipelago. Notably 

 among these ma}' be mentioned Clupea sundaka, Blk., which occurs plentifully in Torres Strait, 

 and which travels, in its migrations, as far south as New South Wales. The late Sir William 

 MacLeay, F.L.S., of Sydney, said that he looked upon it as far superior to the common 

 herring of Scotland, as an article of food, and for the excellence and delicacy of its flavour. In 

 common with an allied species, Clupea sagax, Jen., the maray or pilchard of the Sydnej' market, 

 C. sundaka, arrives in winter off" Port Jackson in enormous shoals, sometimes several miles in 

 extent, then travelling north. This last-named type, C. sagax, does not appear to have been 

 yet recorded from Queensland waters, though it is anticipated that it follows a course parallel with 

 and outside the Great Barrier Reef. Clupea sagax is, at the same time, a more strictly temperate 

 form ; its migrations extending as far south as Victoria, Tasmania, and New Zealand. In the last- 

 named colony the species is extensively cured and sold, under the title of the Picton bloater. 

 Although not hitherto reported from the region of the equator, it makes its appearance again off" 



