86 EDIBLE FISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



The Samsonfisli occurs not unfrequently in the Sydney market, but 

 always singh^ and taken by hook and line. None of the specimens personally 

 examined contained ova in any stage of growth, nor is there any published 

 account of the season or manner in which the spawning is accomplished, but 

 it is not probable that these differ materially from what obtains among their 

 congeners. That, however, the fry are very rarely found upon our shores, 

 along with the solitary habits of the individuals brought to our market, and the 

 limited distribution which we can at present ascribe with certainty to the 

 species, leads to the inference that the localities where the main shoals of 

 these fishes habitually shed their spawn is in the open sea, or if near land 

 have not as yet been discovered. 



Mr. Hill, referring to Port Jackson, writes : — " The Sanisonfish is 

 occasionally caught either in the harbor or off the headlands outside ; its 

 habits are similar to those of the Kingfishes, except that it moves about in 

 deep water, and is more fond of the northern latitude." What this last 

 sentence is intended to convey would be difficult to determine, for, unless its 

 author had distinct evidence of its greater abundance to the northward, 

 which we have now no means of judging, it must be taken for what it is worth 

 as a mere expression of opinion. It was possibly a persual of this sentence 

 which induced Saville Kent to say that its " range probably extends to 

 Queensland waters." Mr. Hill also notices as remarkable the great strength 

 of these fishes, and assumes, Avith all probability, that it is from this charac- 

 teristic that they have acquired their trivial name. 



So far as can be ascertained from public records and from our own expe- 

 rience, the purely Port Jackson District, stretching from Broken Bay in the 

 north to Port Hacking in the south, can alone be given as the acknowledged- 

 habitat of this species on our coast. 



The Samsonfisli attains a length of at least twenty inches. 



Genus III.— TEMNODON. 



Temnodon, Cuv. & Val. Hist. JS'at. Poiss. ix. p. 225, 1833. 



Branchiostegals seven : pseudobranchite present. Body oblong, compressed. 

 Preopercle with some slight denticulations. Jaws armed with strong teeth : 

 villiform teeth on the vomer and palatines. Two dorsal fins, the first with 

 seven feeble spines : the second and the anal more developed : one or two 

 small detached spines in front of the anal. Scales moderate, eyelid. Pyloric 

 appendages very numerous. Airbladder simple. 



Geoqrapliical distrihution. — Temperate and tropical seas of both hemi- 

 spheres. 



TEMNODON SALTATOE. 



GasteroHteus saltatrix, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 491, 17G6 ; Shaw, Zool. iv. p. 



609. 

 Scomher saJfafor, Bl. Schn. p. 35. 

 Ghilodiptenis heptacanthus, Lacep. Hist. Nat. Poiss. iii. p. 542, pi. xxi. fig. 3. 



{had). 

 Pomatomus skib, Lacep. Hist. Nat. Poiss. iv. p. 43G, pi. viii. fig. 3. 

 Scomber plumb eus, Mitch. Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. New York, i. p. 424, jol. iv. 



fig. 1. 

 Temnodon liepi acanthus, Quoy & Gaim. Vov. Freycinet, Zool. p. 400, pi. 



Ixi. fiff. 2. . ^ ' 



