FISH AND FISHEUIES. 103 



0. mitchelli, Castelnau, differs from the above in liaring the head much 

 broader and the eye considerably larger, it being one-sixth the length of 

 the head, the upper jaw longer than the lower, the operculum more 

 rounded, and the caudal fin a little longer. The height of the body is 

 also three times and a third in the length without the caudal, instead 

 of four times and a-half, as in the other species, and the upper profile 

 is more convex. It occurs in all western rivers, but 0. macquariensis 

 is found in a few of the eastern rivers to the north of Sydney. The 

 colour of 0. mitchelli is a livid grey, entirely covered with small round 

 obscure spots. The fishermen call this the Murray Perch, to distinguish 

 it from the Cod. The smaller specimens are more spotted. 



Both fishes are of the same voracious character, devouring every fish or animal 

 of any kind which their enormous mouths can compass. They are both excellent 

 fishes for the table, and have been known to reach a weight of 120 lbs. The young 

 fish are found at the very head of the streams, the old ones generally lower down 

 in the deep reaches of the rivers ; and it is said that, like all other fishes, they have 

 periods of migration, appearing to ascend the streams in summer and to descend 

 them in winter. Very little art is required in the capture of these fish — a strong 

 line, a large hook, and a lump of beef for bait are all the requirements necessary. 

 The spawning season is in midsummer, Mr. F. A. Tompson, of Wagga Wagga, 

 making the time about November, and Mr. Warren, a fisherman at the same place, 

 positively afiirming it to be January, and in this view Mr. Leitch and othei-s 

 coincide. Mr. F. A. Tompson has seen the fish, as he believed, actually deposit- 

 ing the spawn — one fish, the female doubtless, moving along the bottom of the 

 water, forming a furrow in the sand with its chin, while another fish (the male) 

 closely followed in its wake. Mr. Warren never saw the fishes spawning, but had 

 often found what he believed to be the spawTi attached to logs, and he affirms that 

 he can discriminate perfectly between the spawn of the cod and the other percoid 

 fishes of the Murrumbidgee. — R.R.C. 



The Golden Perch. 



The Golden Perch or Yellow-belly represents two species of 

 Ctenolates, C. ambigtius, and C. christyi, a species described by Count 

 Castelnau, from the Edwards River. The first of these is common in 

 all the rivers and lagoons of the interior. It is a very rich and delicate 

 fish, and attains a weight of 7 lbs. or more ; its time and manner of 

 spawning is the same as the cod. The spawn is believed to be hatched 

 in a fortnight after deposition. When fresh this fish is coloured very 

 beautifully. The body is of a magnificent green, the sides and behind 

 the dorsal, the upper parts of the body, are rich golden. The head is a 

 beautiful mixture of green, purple, yellow, and scarlet, with fine golden 

 tinges ; the belly is white, the dorsal fin purplish green, anal scarlet, 

 with its base yellow and its end purple, pectorals scarlet at their base, 

 and yellow in their second half ; the eye is purple, with an interior 

 white ring. These colours are subject to great variation, and the belly 

 is sometimes red. The young fish have little of the fine hues of the 

 adult, and they are much more elongate. The head is purple, and the 

 dorsal fin is grey, bordered with black. 



In C. chrisfyi the upper parts are brownish purple, and the lower 

 white. It is very rare. It must be mentioned that Gunther and Castel- 

 nau place these fishes in the genus Dules. The main distinction from 

 Oligorus appears to be that the scales are small and strongly ctenoid, 

 the spines in the dorsal ai-e ten in number, and the preorbital and pre- 

 operculum are finely serrated with small denticulations on the lower 



