

86 EDIBLE FISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 



The Sainsonfish occurs not unfretiuontly in tlie S^'dney market, but 

 always singly and taken by book and line. None o£ the specimens personally 

 examined contained ova in any stage of gi-owtli, nor is there any published 

 account of the season or manner in which the spawning is accomplished, but 

 it is not probable that these differ material!}'' from what obtains among their 

 congeners. That, however, the fry are very rarely found upon our shores, 

 along with the solitary habits of the individuals brought to our market, and the 

 limited distribution whicii we can at present ascribe with certainty to the 

 species, leads to the inference that the localities where the main shoals of 

 these fishes habitually shed their spawn is in the open sea, or if near land 

 have not as yet been discovered. 



3Ir. Hill, referring to Port Jackson, writes : — " The Samsonfish is 

 occasionally caught either in the harbor or off the headlands outside ; its 

 habits are similar to those of the Kingfishes, except that it moves about in 

 deep water, and is more fond of the northern latitude." "What this last 

 sentence is intended to convey would be difficult to determine, for, unless its 

 author had distinct evidence of its greater abundance to the northward, 

 which we have now no means of judging, it must be taken for what it is worth 

 as a mere expression of opinion. It was possibly a persual of this sentence 

 which induced Saville Kent to say that its '' range probably extends to 

 Queensland waters." Mr. Hill also notices as remarkable the great strength 

 of these fishes, and assumes, with all probability, that it is from this charac- 

 teristic that they have acquired their trivial name. 



So far as can be ascertained from public records and from our own expe- 

 rience, the purely Port Jackson District, stretching from Broken Bay in the 

 north to Port Hacking in the south, can alone be given as the acknowledged 

 habitat of this species on our coast. 



The Samsonfish attains a length of at least twenty inches. 



Genus III.— TEMNODON. 



Temnoclon, Cuv. & Val. Hist. Nat. Poiss. ix. p. 225, 1S33. 



Branchiostegals seven : pseudobranchia? present. Body oblong, compressed. 

 Preopercle with some slight denticulatious. Jaws armed with strong teeth : 

 yilliform teeth on the vomer and palatines. Two dorsal fins, the first with 

 seveu feeble spines : the second and the anal more developed : one or two 

 small detached spines in front of the anal. Scales moderate, cvclid. Pvlorie 

 appendages very numerous. Airbladder simple. 



Geofiraphical distribution. — Temperate and tropical seas of both hemi- 

 spheres. 



' TEMXODOX SALTATOE. 



Gasterosteus saltatrix, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 491, 17G6 ; Shaw, Zool. iv. p. 



609. 

 Scomber saJfator, Bl. Schn. p. 35. 

 Chilodipterus lieptacanthus, Lacep. Hist. Nat. Poiss. iii. p. 542, pi. xxi. %.". 3 



{bad). 

 Pomatomus skib, Lacep. Hist. Nat. Poiss. iv. p. 436, pi. viii. fig. 3. 

 Scomber plumbeus^ Mitch. Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. New Tork, i. p. 424, pi. iv. 



fig. 1. 

 Temnodo?i liept acanthus, Quoy & Gaim. Yov. Freycinet, Zool. p. 400, pi. 



Ixi. fig. 2. 



