76 NEW SOUTH WALES 



The Beardie, or Ling. 



(Plate XXIII, fig. 2.) 



LoTELLA MARGiNATA, Macleay (Plate XVII, fig. 2) belongs to a genus 

 ■which has a separate caudal fin, teeth in the upper jaw in a bad and an outer 

 series of larger ones; chin, with a barbel. There are four species known in 

 Australia. Our Port Jackson species is from 14 to 20. inches long, of a 

 uniform brownish colour with the margins of all the fins white. Of the 

 esculent qualities of the species nothing is known, but those in Victoria 

 and Tasmania are valued by some. The flesh is always very soft and 

 ■watery. There are excellent figures of the Victorian species in McCoy's 

 Prodromus of 'the Zoology of Victoria, Part II, plates 19 and 20, 

 caught with a line off the rocks ; the fishermen state that the spawning 

 time in Victoria is April. 



Passing over the families Ophidiid.e and Macrurid^, the second 

 division of the Anacanthini demands a more lengthened notice. It con- 

 sists of one family — 



PLEURONECTID^. 



These fishes are called " Flat Fishes," including soles, flounders, plaice, 

 turbot, (fee. They have no air-bladder, and are so compressed that 

 they move on one side of the body. The lower side, which on different 

 genera is sometimes the left and sometimes the right, is white, the upper 

 side is variously and sometimes brilliantly coloured, and both eyes are 

 on the upper side, an arrangement which does not take place, until the 

 young fishes have attained some size and have been swimming in the ocean 

 like ordinary fishes. The fins which run all around the flat fish are the 

 dorsal and anal, and the name Phuronectidce (Greek jyleiiron side, nektes 

 swimmer) refers to this peculiarity. In Psettodes we find a sort of tran- 

 sition state in the adult, and the eyes are as often found on the right 

 as on the left side, and not unfrequently they swim in a vertical position. 

 In the adult state they live on the bottom and swim with an undulating 

 motion. They prefer sand, with which they cover themselves. Some 

 enter fresh water, and others never live out of it. One fresh-water species 

 of sole was brought down by me from the Palmer River [Synaptura 

 selheimi, Macleay), obtained by Mr. Selheim and other.s. Giinther 

 says that all flat fishes are carnivorous, but this must be subject to some 

 exception, as these fresh-water soles were captured by a bait of grass. 

 The size and abundance of flat fishes and the flavour of the flesh of the 

 majority render this family one of the most useful to man. 



There are about thirty-five genera, of which Ilippoglossics, the " Hali- 

 but," lihornhus, " Turbot," Solea, the " Sole," and Pleuronectes, the 

 Plaices, are the most familiar. 



The Flounder. 



(Plate XXXIII.) 



" Out of the eight or nine species of flat fishes found in Eastern Australia, two 

 only are of sufficient size and frequency of occurrence to be classed among our use- 

 ful fishes. These are Pafudorhomlni^ russellii, generally called the "flounder," 

 and S'!/na]jtura viijra, best known as the " sole." The first of these is to be found 

 on all the sandy bottoms both inside and outside the bays and inlets of the coast. It 



