12 EDIBLE FISHES OF XEW SOUTH WALES. 



Cuvier's Sea-Perch. 



B. vii. D. 10/17-lS. A. 3/8-9. V. 15. P. 13. C. 15. L. lat. 55-58. 



L. tr. G/2-i-25. Ccec. pyl. 8. 



Length of head 2'70-2"80, of caudal fin 5"50-5'75, height of body 

 3-50-3-G6 in the total length. Diameter of eye 5--40-G-00 in the length of 

 the head, and 1"25-1'40 in that of the snout : interorbital space concave, its 

 breadth 2'33-2'60 in the diameter of the eye. Nostrils small and moderately 

 distant, the anterior with a low circular rim, which is extended from its 

 inferior margin to and around the upper margin of the hinder nostril. 

 Upper profile of head flat. Lower jaw the longer. Cleft of mouth wide and 

 oblique, the maxilla reaching to beneath the hinder margin of the orbit or 

 not quite so far. Opercle with three spines, the middle one much the 

 longest, the upper short, blunt, and concealed beneath the skin : preopercle 

 rounded, with tlie vertical limb armed with sharp equal sized denticulations, 

 the angle and lower limb with three, rarely four, strong teeth directed 

 forwards and downwards, the anterior of which is the strongest : posttemporal 

 and clavicular bones spineless. A broad band of villif orm teeth in the jaws, 

 with two or three pairs of small canines anteriorly ; one or two pairs of 

 lateral canines in the lower jaw ; vomerine teeth in an obtusely angular 

 band ; palatines with a narrow curved band. The dorsal commences above 

 the opercular spine ; the first spine is the shortest, less than one third of the 

 fourth or fifth, which are the longest, from 2'75-3'10 iri the length 

 of the head ; the rays are subequal in height to the spines, and the 

 basal length of the rayed fin is one tenth less than that of the spinous : the 

 anal commences beneath the second or third dorsal ray, and ends beneath 

 the thirteenth or fourteenth ; its spines are stronger than those of the dorsal, 

 the second the strongest and a little longer than the third, its length from 

 3"75^'00 in that of the head ; the rays are fully twice as long as the 

 spines, and much longer than those of the dorsal : ventral pointed, the 

 second ray the longest, three fourths of the distance between its origin and 

 the vent, and from 2"00-2-20 in the length of the head ; the spine is short, 

 not half the length of the rays : pectoral pointed, the seventh ray the 

 longest, reaching to the vertical from the vent, and 1'50-1"70 in the same : 

 caudal very slightly rounded, the least height of its pedicle 2'50 in the 

 height of the body, Soft dorsal with a deep, anal with a low scaly sheath ; 

 scales on the head very small. 



Colors. — Eed, clouded above wdth dusky brown, below with yellow ; body 

 with five dark transverse bands. 



This fish is never common in the Sydney market, but occasionally a few 

 are to be seen in company with the next species; the only specimen 

 examined in which the ova were fully developed was caught in the beginning 

 of August. Their food consists of small fishes, crustaceans, and molluscs, 

 the former predominating in all those which have been examined hitherto. 

 Although this fish has been long known from Port Jackson and King 

 George's Sound I am not aware of its having been recorded from any inter- 

 mediate locality. 



Ten inches is about the maximum size to which the species attains. 



PLECTROPOMA OCELLATUM. 



Plectropovia ci/anostigma, Guth, Catal. Eish.i. p. IGl {not BJeeJcer). 

 PJectropoma oceUatum, Grnth. Catal. Fish. i. p. 50J^, 1859, and Brenchl. 



Cruise of the Curacoa, p. 41G, pi. xxix. ; Macleay, Catal. Austr. Pish, i, 



p. 23 ; AVoods, i'isher. N. S. AVales, p. 34. 

 Flcciro^ioma nujriaster, Steindachn. SB. Ak. "Wien, 18CG, liii. p. 42G, pi. i. fig. 3. 



