i8 



though occasionally taken at other seasons, are most aliundant 

 in summer, when they seem to come in from the sea in small 

 shoals."— R. R. C, p. 21. 



Trichiurid^. 



The barracouta (Thyr sites atuit) and the Tasmanian 

 king-fish {T. solaiidri) are the two principal members of 

 this family that find their way to the markets. The former 

 is the most common, but the latter also occasionally occurs 

 in great shoals. After an absence of several years, shoals 

 of Thyrsites solandri have again visited the Tasmanian 

 coasts. T. atim is not so erratic in its movements, and 

 consequently the supply is regular ; and when smoked and 

 dried, or salted, forms an article of export to the other 

 colonies. They are large fishes, attaining a length of 

 four feet, and 4 or 5 inches in diameter. Individuals 

 occasionally wander as far north as New South Wales ; but 

 the Tasmanian and southern coasts are the homes of these 

 species. 



SCOMBRID^. 



" This is a very large family, comprising four or five groups of 

 iishes of very different appearance and habit. We will deal with 

 the most numerous, and certainly the most typical, of the groups 

 first, the Scombrina. The genus Scomber \% represented in Australia 

 by two species. Scomber australasicus, Cuv. & Val., and Scomber 

 antarcticus, Castelnau. The last-named is the one best-known in 

 these seas as the ' Mackerel.' Like all, or almost all of the 

 'Scombrina,' it is a gregarious and exceedingly predacious fish, 

 rejoicing in the open sea and generally near the surface, and appa- 

 rently constantly in pursuit of shoals of other fishes. The instinct 

 which in all fishes seems to compel them to mass together and 

 approach the shore at the season of spawning is not wanting in the 

 Mackerel, and it is probable that the occasional visits of more than 



