78 EDIBLE riSnES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



diameter 340-3 60 in the length of the head, and 100-1-25 in that of the 

 snont : intei'orbitai space convex with a central ridge, 1"20-1"33 in the 

 diameter of the eye. Xostrils approximate, oval, oblique, the anterior slightly 

 the larger. Upper profile of head slightly convex. Cleft of month oblique ; 

 lower jaw the longer, the maxilla extending to beneath the anterior third of 

 the orbit. A narrow band of minute teeth in the jaws, on the vomer, and 

 palatine bones, and along the middle of the tongue. Dorsal spines weak, 

 increasing in length to the fourth, which is from l'GO-1'90 in the length of 

 the head : a short interspace between the fins ; second dorsal much lower 

 than the spinous and similar to the anal : detached anal spines strong : ventral 

 fin not extending to the vent, its length being from 1-10-1'33 in the distanec 

 between its origin and the vent, and l'GO-1'75 in that of the head : pectoral 

 falcate, extending backwards to above the preanal spines, l"15-l"2o in the 

 same length : caudal forked, the height of its pedicle less than its width. 

 Head nnked in front of the eyes. Lateral line abruptly curved downwards 

 below the anterior third of the rayed dorsal, behind this strtvight; anteriorly 

 it is crossed by large scale-like plates much deeper than long, and without 

 keel, while the plates on the straight portion, thirty six to thirty nine in 

 number, ai*e keeled, most strongly so posteriorly. 



Colors. — Adult dark blue, young bright green, above the lateral line, 

 below which it is silvery tinted with metallic pink and gold ; opercle with a 

 black spot : irides bronze above, with orange reflections ; silvery below. 



It is difficult to ascertain the exact season or seasons of breedins: of the 



O 



Tellowtail, since the adult fishes rarely enter our bays and harbors, and are, 

 therefore, very seldom seen in our fishmarkets ; the fact that the immature 

 fishes, however, from three to six or eight inches in length, are always to be 

 found there in numbers, proves that their breeding stations are not far 

 distant from the coast. That the Report of the Eoyal Commission is 

 erroneous in its suggestion that " It is most probable that this fish spawns 

 in the inlets and harbors of the coast, from the fact that the young fish of five 

 or six inches in length arc always to be found in such localities " is easily 

 demonstrable seeing that, if this were the case, the adult fishes, when breeding, 

 would be taken by the seine fishermen in countless numbers, and forwarded 

 in due course to the market, and this, as we have before shown, is an almost 

 unknown occurrence. It is much more probable that the shoals passing along 

 the coast shed their spawn in the open sea, that the spawn floats, and is carried 

 bv the combined action of wind and tide into our bays and inlets, in the warm, 

 quiet waters of which they quickly come to maturity ; and that a continuous 

 supply of these small fishes is kept up throughout the year leads us to the 

 inference that either the Tellowtail breeds twice in the year, or, more 

 probably, that the different shoals do not all breed at the same time. The 

 adult fishes are said to pass along the coast in enormous shoals about mid- 

 summer, but they are on the coast at other seasons, the two largest we have 

 examined having been taken in Lake Macquarie during the month of August ; 

 in neither of these examples, however, could distinct evidences of breeding be 

 detected. 



In the same Eeport it is stated that " The very young fry have a most 

 extraordinary and ingenious way of providing for their safety and nutrition 

 at the same time ; they take up their quarters inside the umbrella of the 

 large Medusee, Avhere they are safe from their enemies, and are, without any 

 exertion on their part, supplied with the minute organisms which constitute 

 their food, by the constant current kept up by the action of the curtain-like 

 cilia of the animal." "We are unaware upon whose authority this statement 



