24 MALAYAN FISHES. 
“ There are five or six different species. 
“The most common species is possibly Atherina tem- 
mincki (Bleeker). 
‘They are known as * pescados del rey’ or fishes of the 
king, among the Spaniards. 
“ They are greatly valued as food. The young are termed 
white bait. The method of catching is usually by seine or 
corral. A profitable industry could be built up by preparing 
these fish in a good sauce, by pickling them with spices, or by 
drying. They abound at all seasons.” 
GREY MULLETS. 
(MUGILIDAE.) 
The Grey Mullet are a widely distributed and very important 
family. They inhabit shallow water in the seas, estuaries and 
rivers and none are known to occur in very deep water. 
Their habit of keeping to the shallows, in large shoals, renders 
their capture, in enclosures. which dry out at low tide, and in 
mullet nets, an easy matter. As there are no restrictions as to size 
and no close season, mullet are getting scarcer every year in 
Malayan waters. 
Grey Mullet feed, more or less, on the organic matter found in 
mud and they are peculiar among fizh in that they have a true 
gizzard, lined with a thick horny epithelium. 
Mullet are very common and highly appreciated in Australia. 
Stead’ writes: 
“ During a recent year in New South Wales alone 45,000 
baskets of Mullet—principally Sea Mullet—were received for 
disposal at the various fish markets. The average basket of 
Mullet contains about 75 pounds weight: and, if we calculate 
the fish at an average of one pound weight each, we find that 
we have the imposing total of 3,875,000 individuals.” 
In New South Wales Mullet may only be netted at certain 
times and at certain places, and there is a legal limit as to size as 
with all valuable edible fish in that Colony. 
The breeding season with most of our Mullet appears to be 
between November and February during the N. E. monsoon, 
At this time I have seen the Anding in myriads in the surf, 
near the mouth of the Trengganu river and other rivers on the 
fast coast... A quantity of vellowish foam and scum i: brought 
down by the rivers which are usually in full spate in November and 
December, and this foam either contains food or provides a suitable 
shade and shelter for the ova of the Mullet which are, I believe, 
pelagic or floating eggs. A day of steady incessant tropical rain 
during the N. E. monsoon is the day above all others to which all 
1 Fishes of Na 
