EDIBLK FISHES OF QUEENSLAND— OGJLBY. 73 



Australian from the Atlantic fish giving to the former the name of ,Sf. antarctica, 

 by which it is generally known at the present time, but it must be confessed that 

 he does not give any very convincing reasons for his action. His decision was 

 bascil on a single large specimen, fifty-seven inches long, captured in Bass Strait, 

 where, he says, it seems to Ik- an accidental visitor, appears exclusively in the 

 colder months, and only of a very large size. Subsequently, influenced by 

 McCoy, he reverts to the name .S'. aquila, and states that, during a six years' 

 residence in ilelbourne, he had only seen two examples, "both of enormous 

 size, weighing about eighty pounds" apiece. And just here we come upon the 

 first of the fascinating mysteries, which enshroiid the historj' of the jewfishes 

 in these waters; the others will disclose themselves in due course. In his paper 

 last referi'ed to Castelnau, writing in 1878 of a recent visit to Brisbane, states 

 that he "was astonished to find that a Scuena was amongst the most conuiion 

 fishes of Moreton Bay, and is considered the best edible fish of the country. It 

 is called Dewfish, because of its beautiful silvery gray colour"; and further on 

 he writes "It attains the weight of fifty pounds. During my staj' in the months 

 of Jiuie and July, numerous specimens of all sizes were caught every day; the 

 great majority were of a foot long or even less." My first impression, on 

 reading these lines, was that Castelnau, like so many others after him, had 

 confounded the little Brisbane River "perch" {S. australis) with the young 

 of the true jewfish, but after intimate conversations with several old Brisbane 

 anglers with thirty to forty years' experience of the river, I am convinced that 

 by so doing I would have made a serious mistake and that the small fishes, to 

 which Castelnau refers, were in very truth the young of the large jewfish. 

 Regarding this Mr. J. Trevethan, who is suj^ported by all the older angling 

 identities, kindly writes to me as follows; — "On the first appearance of these 

 fishes in the upper reaches'" they were of from one pound to six pounds in 

 weight, and were to be caught in such large numbers that one could hardly 

 get rid of them, even as gifts to friends, so common were they. I have known 

 as many as sixty or seventy of these fishes to be creeled by a single angler in 

 a very short space of time, by which you may judge what jewfishing was like 

 in those days. Later on a second run of these fishes commenced, those composing 

 it being of a much larger size, varying in weight from ten to over fifty lb." The 

 largest jewfish Mr. Trevethan was at the catching of weighed fift.v-seven lb. after 

 it had been cleaned. As a further instance of their abundance before the great 

 fiood of 1893 he states that "even the prawners used to catch them in their nets 

 up to thirty lb. weight, and were glad to get rid of them for a couple of shillings 

 after carrying them from one restaurant to another before they could get a 

 purchaser. ' ' 



Uses: — As a foodfish this species is of considerable importance, although 

 there is at present no regular fishery for it, most of those which appear in our 

 shops being taken by hook. Up to 25 lb. weight it is an excellent table 

 fish, but beyond that it becomes coarse and somewhat rank. However, as it 



-' ilr. Trevethan is alluding to tlio river readies from tlie Dry Dock in Brisbane to above 

 the railway bridge at Indooroopilly. 



