FIJI-NEW ZEALAND EXPEDITION 201 
NOTES ON THE FAUNA OF HAURAKI GULF 
Of course the trawler Cowan was engaged solely in securing 
fishes for the market in Auckland, and her crew had little in- 
centive to observe or to secure other forms of marine life. The 
writer, on the other hand, was not prepared to preserve fish ex- 
cept very small ones, and was primarily interested in the in- 
vertebrates that came up in the trawl or were secured along shore 
during our infrequent landings. 
Of the market fishes the most abundant and highly prized were 
the snappers, regarded by many as the most excellent food-fish 
found in New Zealand waters. The ‘‘Jack Dory’’ was probably 
second in quantity and esteem. It is a laterally compressed fish 
with a conspicuous eye-like marking on the sides. A very beautiful 
form was called the ‘‘frost-fish,’’ and looked as if it were thickly 
coated all over with silver gilt, so perfectly silvered was it. It 
was some four or five feet in length, laterally compressed, very 
narrow with hardly evident scales, and was regarded as a good 
food fish. A number of soles were taken and I noticed that the 
crew preferred these to any other fish that the cook served. A 
few barracuda were also secured which looked much like those 
which are so prominent in the markets on our Pacifie coast. 
I casually noted some other forms, such as a few large porcu- 
pine fish, puff-fish, hammerhead sharks and other small sharks 
resembling dogfish, some rather large rays and a lot of small fry 
which were thrown overboard as soon as possible. Many of these 
fish would have made attractive museum specimens if properly 
preserved and mounted. 
It was interesting to note the great difference in coloration 
between the reef fish of Fiji and those taken in from eighteen to 
twenty-four fathoms by the New Zealand trawler. Here were very 
few brilliantly colored forms, the frost-fish being perhaps the most 
attractive. But there was nothing to represent the gorgeous 
angel-fish, butterfly-fish, trigger-fishes or even the spotted morays 
of the coral reefs. As a matter of fact I had little opportunity 
to examine the fish. As soon as the trawl was swung in-board 
and its contents dumped on the deck, fishes were thrown or 
shoveled into baskets each holding about a hundred pounds and 
then the remaining ones thrown overboard. So I had to act quick- 
ly in picking out the invertebrates and getting them to a place of 
safety before the ‘‘clean up.’’ The filled baskets were then stored 
