EDIBLE FISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 35 



inadequate methods of fishing, a remark which also applies to Johnston's 

 note regarding Tasmania : — "Eare. I have not seen any specimens." Its 

 range extends eastwards to the shores of New Zealand, where it is known 

 to the Maoris as " Pakurakura." 



The largest specimen observed on our coast measured twelve inches, but a 

 pair seen in Adelaide approximated to fourteen. 



MULLUS SIGNATUS. 



Jlpeneus signatus, G-nth. Ann. Nat. Hist. (3) 1867, xx. p. 59 ; Macleay, 

 Catal. Austr. Tish. i. p. 106. 



Hypeneiis signatiis, Ogilby, Catal. N.S. Wales Fish. p. 17. 



Spotted Eed Mullet. 

 Plate XI. 



B. iv. D. 8. 1/8. A. 2/6. Y. 1/5. P. 16. C. 15. L. lat. 27-30. 



L. tr. 2/6. Yert. 10/14. 



Length of head 3-66-4-20, of caudal fin 4-40-5-00, height of body 

 3'60-4-±0 in the total length. Diameter of eye from 3'40 in immature to 

 4"33 in adult examples in the length of the head, and similarly from 1'50- 

 2"15 in that of the snout : interorbital space convex, from 1'00-1'33 in the 

 diameter of the eye. Upper jaw the longer ; height of preorbital half of its 

 breadth. Barbels moderately developed, extending a short distance behind 

 the angle of the preopercle. Maxilla not hidden by the preorbital, dilated 

 and fan-shaped posteriorly, not quite or only just reaching to the anterior 

 margin of the eye. Upper profile of head rounded, with a slight concavity 

 on the snout. Preopercle entire : opercle with two weak spines, the lower 

 the stronger. A single row of small conical teeth in each jaw ; vomer 

 and palate edentulous. Third spine of the first dorsal the longest, 1"45 — 

 1.75 in the length of the head ; rayed dorsal three fourths of the height of 

 the spinous, its base about one fourth less than the base of that fin : the 

 anal commences beneath the second or third dorsal ray, and its posterior 

 spine is two thirds of the first ray : the ventral fins do not quite reach 

 to the vent, and are 1"15-1'40 in the length of the head : pectorals equal 

 in length to the ventrals, extending backwards to the twelfth or thirteenth 

 scale of the lateral line : caudal forked, the least height of the pedicle equal 

 to or rather more than the distance betwen the base of the last spine of the 

 first dorsal and the origin of the second. Two or three series of scales 

 between the dorsal fins, nine between the rayed dorsal and the caudal, three 

 between the eye and the angle of the preopercle, and two on the opercle. 

 Tubes of the lateral line profusely branched, more numerously and con- 

 sj)icuously so anteriorly. 



Colors. — Eed, the upper surfaces clouded with olive brown ; a broad, rather 

 obscure, dusky band from the opercles to beneath the rayed dorsal ; caudal 

 pedicle with a large black spot extending over its upper surface, and 

 frequently preceded by a pinkish blotch. 



The Spotted Eed Mullet is rather more plentiful than II. porosvs in Port 

 Jackson, and numbers of the young, along with those of other more or less 

 valuable fishes, are frequently left to decay on our sandy beaches by the 

 seine fishers. The adults are not so often seen ; the remarks made on the 

 preceding spc;cies apply equally to this fish. 



