1 1 



The following extract is taken from the Report of the 

 Royal Commission (pp. 12-13) before mentioned: — 



" The Schnapper {Pagrus unicolor) is the most valuable of Aus- 

 tralian fishes, not for its excellence, for we have many more 

 delicious,* but for the abundant and regular supply which it 

 affords of a very nutritious and wholesome description of food. 

 It is found on all parts of the Australian coast, but most abun- 

 dantly on that of New South Wales. It is a deep-water fish, 

 found generally on or near rocky points, or reefs running out for 

 miles from the coast. Its food is chiefly the mollusca living on 

 the rocks, though the readiness with which it will snap up bait ot 

 the most varied descriptions indicates tastes of rather an omni- 

 vorous character. Like all or most fishes, it has its periods of 

 migration and accumulation in shoals, a movement so well ex- 

 pressed by the term ' schooling ' that we shall adopt the phrase 

 for the future. The time of the appearance of the ' School 

 Schnapper ' is the early part of summer ; it is then believed to be 

 at least three years old ; the previous stages of its existence being 

 well known under the names of ' Red Bream' at the age of one 

 year, and of ' Squire ' at two. At a still greater age the Schnapper 

 seems to cease to school, and becomes what is known as the 

 ' Native ' and ' Rock Native,' a solitary and sometimes enormously 

 large fish." " At the first appearance of the school-fish in early 

 summer the roes are small ; but the full size is attained in or about 

 January, about which time no doubt the spawn is deposited. 

 The actual mode of the deposition or attachment of the spawn 

 has never been observed, and the same may be said of the date 

 of the first appearance of the young fry, but there can be little 

 doubt that the deposition takes place in moderately deep water 

 near the land, and that the young are probably hatched before 

 the winter season. The young fish, in the shape of ' Red Bream,' 

 are abundant in the harbours and inlets, but are seldom captured 

 in large quantities in the seine ; they take the hook, however, 

 freely, and the capture of them is a very favourite pastime of the 



* [This is a matter of opinion ; many assert that there is no better 

 fish in the Australian waters than a half-grown Schnapper. — E. P. R.] 



