162 EDIBLE FISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



In three adult female specimens examined during the last week in 

 May the ova were in an advanced stage of development, so that it may 

 reasonably be concluded that the spawning season is about midwinter ; in a 

 paper, however, sent to the Boyal Commission on the Fisheries of Xew South 

 Wales, Mr. Lee Lord states that the best lot he ever procured were full of 

 roe on the 21st of February ; the truth of this I have verified, so that as 

 with most, if not all, of our fishes there are two distinct breeding seasons 

 annually, and, in the case of the Sole, the short space of time separating the 

 two ascertained seasons points to the possibility of a third season about the 

 end of spring. The ova are very small and numerous. 



Their food principally consists of small crustaceans and molluscs, worms, 

 and brittlestars. 



As food they are undeniably good, but they do not by any means merit 

 the high price which they always bring in the Sydney markets. 



The greater number of Soles exposed for sale in Port Jackson come to hand, 

 through the agency of the prawn fishers, from the estuaries of the rivers 

 and creeks which fall into the headwaters of Port Jackson, Botany and 

 Broken Bays ; but there can be little doubt that if the otter trawl were in 

 more general use in the estuaries of our rivers, the supply wonld be greatly 

 augmented, and the present prohibitive price to the consumer proportionately 

 lessened. 



According to the author of the "Fish and Fisheries of New South Wales" 

 the spear is the most prolific means of effecting its capture, but, of hundreds 

 examined I have not noticed a single specimen in the market, which had 

 been obtained by this means. Hill's remarks on this species, published in 

 the above mentioned work must be received with grave suspicion, as he has 

 evidently mixed up several species, and it is palpable that plate xxxiv of 

 Woods' work, labelled " Sole" is a flounder {PseicdorJtombus arsiits) and 

 j)late xxxiii, labelled Fseudorhomhusrussellil is really P. mulfimaculatus. So 

 far as I can ascertain this fish has never been known to take a bait. 



The Black Sole has been recorded from the estuaries of the JN'ew South 

 Wales coast, along the entire length of its coastline ; to the northwards it 

 occurs at least as far as Moreton Bay, according to Saville Kent, while we 

 have Mr. Smithers' assurance of its presence in the W^onboyn river, close to 

 the Victorian border. Mr. Lucas does not, however, include it in his 

 *' Census" of Victorian fishes ; but a record of its occurrence in the Gippsland 

 lakes is probably a mere question of time. 



The ordinary marketable size of this species is from six to ten inches ; but 

 specimens of larger size are not of infrequent occurrence, especially during 

 the summer of 1891-92, in the latter part of which Soles were more 

 plentiful, and of a larger size than in any of the six preceding years ; the 

 largest specimen examined measured thirteen and a half inches. 



Genus IV.— PLAGUSIA. 



Plagusia^pt. Cuvier, Eegne Anim. 



Upper ])art of the snout produced backwards into a long hook, covering 

 the mandible : cleft of mouth asymmetrical, rather narrow : lips of the 

 colored side with tentacles. One nostril on the left side, before the angle of 

 the lower orbit : none between the eyes. Eyes on the left side. Gill- 

 opening very narrow. Teeth minute, on the blind side only : no vomerine or 

 palatine teeth. Vertical fins confluent : pectorals absent. Scales small, 

 ctenid. Lateral line on the colored side double or triple. 



Geographical distrihution. — Indian, Malayan, Australian, and Japanese seas 



