EDIBLE PISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 117 



Broken Bays, but beyond the latter no record exists, and it does not appear 

 to have been observed on the Queensland coast. In the Melbourne market, 

 where it goes by the name of " Skipjack Pike " this species, writes Castelnau 

 is " common in the months o£ May. June, and July It is con- 

 sidered equal to Sphyrcena novceliollandicB for the use of the table." 

 Johnston dismisses it from the shores whence it was originally described with 

 a curt ''not uncommon in the Derwent." 



The Long-finned Pike is said to grow to twenty four inches ; the largest we 

 have examined was seventeen inches, and was considered exceptionally large. 



Family XVIII.-MUGILID^. 



Branchiostegals four to six : pseudobranchias present. Gill-openings 

 . wide ; gills four. Body oblong and compressed, the head sometimes 

 depressed. Mouth in front of the snout, narrow or of moderate width. 

 Eyes lateral, with or without adipose lids. Opercles generally unarmed. 

 Dentition feeble : sometimes absent. Two dorsal fins separated by an inter- 

 space, the anterior consisting of four stiff" spines : anal a little longer than 

 the rayed dorsal : ventral fins abdominal, suspended from an elongated 

 cora-joid bone. Scales eyelid, rarely ctenid, extending on to the snovit. 

 No lateral line. Airbladder large, simple. Pyloric appendages in small 

 numbers. Yertebrse twenty four to twenty six. 



Geographical distrihidion. — Seas of the temperate and tropical regions 

 entering fresh waters ; some species apparently confined to the latter. 



Day I'emarks : — "»In India and Burma I have observed that in such 

 forms as Mugil corsula, M. caacasia, and M. hamiltonii, which mostly or 

 entirely reside in fresh water, the scales are strongly ctenid, while the two 

 last have merely two pyloric appendages." 



Genus I.— MUGIL. 



Mugil, Artedi, Gen. Pise. p. 32, 1738. 



Branchiostegals four to six : pseudobranchise present. Mouth more or 

 less transverse, with a shallow lateral cleft, and the anterior margin of the 

 mandible sharp and sometimes ciliated. Eyes with or without adipose lids. 

 Teeth, when present, minute. Pyloric appendages in small numbers. Upper 

 portion of stomach very muscular : intestinal tract long. 



Geograpliical distribution. — All temperate and tropical regions. 



The majority of the species pass a portion of the year in the sea, whence 

 they migrate to the brackish water of estuaries for the purpose of depositing 

 their spawn ; some, however, are now confined to purely fresh water, but 

 it is probable that, like the land-locked Salmon, some cause, other than 

 their own volition, necessitated so important a departure from their natural 

 mode of life. 



For the benefit of Australian students Dr. Giinther's clear enunciation of 

 the means by which the Mullet obtains its microscopic food, and the special 

 mechanism employed to insure the perfect attainment of that object, may 

 be advantageously reproduced here; he says: — "They frequent brackish 

 waters in which they find an abundance of food, which consists chiefiy of the 

 organic substances mixed with mud or sand ; in order to prevent larger 

 bodies from passing into the stomach, or substances from passing through 

 the gill-openings, these fishes have the organs of the pharynx modified into 

 a filtering apparatus. They take in a quantity of sand or mud, and, after 

 having worked it for some time between the pharyngeal bones, they reject 

 the roughest and indigestible portion of it." 



