92 EDIBLE FISHES OF KEW SOUTH WALES. 



ptervgouls dcuselj clothed ^Yitll minute teetli ; a central suboval patch on the 

 tongue. Last dorsal spine the longest, about three sevenths of the anterior 

 rays, whieli are produced and from l-00-l-3;i in the length of the head : the 

 anal is similar to the soft dorsal, its anterior rays are equal in length to those 

 of that iin, and the third spine is longer and stronger than the last dorsal 

 spine : ventral fms rudimentary, the short stout spine reaching midway to 

 the vent, which is situated nearer to their origin than to that of the anal: 

 pectorals email, about three fourths of the length of tlie head: caudal 

 emarginate, the least height of its pedicle five eighths of the same length. 

 Scales small and C3'Clid, the greater part of the vertical fins scaly, the snout 

 and maxilla naked. Lateral line with a long gradual curve to below the 

 middle of the rayed dorsal. 



Colors. — Pale "yellowish-brown with violet reflections on the upper surfaces 

 and the caudal region ; abdominal region silvery ; a black band from the 

 nape to the eye, and a second from the origin of the dorsal fin to the opercle, 

 present in immature, but indistinct in adult examples : dorsal and caudal 

 fins duskv ; anal tinged with yellow. 



The Batfish appears on the coast of New South Wales, north of Port 

 Jackson, in considerable shoals, during the spring and earlier summer 

 months. They are heavy with spawn about midsummer, but we are 

 unacquainted with the manner in which the spawn is deposited, nor have Ave 

 as yet seen the fry brought ashore in our harbors or estuaries, those sent 

 to market being all adult and of about equal size. 



Their food consists of minute marine animals, crustaceans, molluscs, 

 worms, &c., the smallness of the mouth precluding the possibility of their 

 swallowing other food, while their comparatively limited powers of locomotion 

 prevent them from capturing swifter prey. As food they are of good quality. 



On the Australian coast it is found at least as far to the south-eastward 

 as Port Jackson, sometimes in considerable shoals. It has not been 

 recorded from Victoria, Tasmania, or New Zealand, but is abundant on the 

 Queensland coast, and, according to Saville Kent, is " commonly taken in 

 Moretim Bay, and is classified among the food fishes of that Colony." It 

 occurs in numbers along the northern seaboard of Australia, but the limit 

 of its southerly range on the western coast has not been recorded. 



Bevond these Colonies its range is very extensive, stretching from the 

 Eed Sea, the east coast of Africa, Madagascar, and Rodriguez, through 

 the seas of India and Malaysia, eastward to Samoa and Fiji. 



The Batfish attains to a 'length of nine inches, but rarely exceeds six in 

 our seas. 



Family XIV.- SCOMBRID^. 



Branchiostegals seven or eight : pseudobranchiae present. Body oblong or 

 fusiform, more or less compressed. Eyes lateral. G-ill-openings wide. No 

 bony articulation between the preopercle and infraorbital bones. Teeth 

 always present in the jaws : vomer and palatine bones with or without 

 teeth. Two dorsal fins : the spinous less developed than the rayed portion 

 or than the anal, either continuous with or separated from the rayed dorsal, 

 sometimes (as in Echeneis) modified into a sucking disc : finlets present or 

 absent : ventrals thoracic. Tail with or without a lateral keel. Scales small 

 or absent. Airbladder present or absent. Pyloric appendages in large 

 numbers. 



Geographical distribution. — Carnivorous pelagic fishes of the tropical and 

 temperate seas of both hemisphere. 



