120 EDIBLE FISHES OF NEAV SOUTH WALES. 



uutil the increasing laeat of spring caused the ova to germinate." As, how- 

 ever, this author does not seem to have been aware of the second or spring 

 brcceling season of this species, the conchision above mentioned must be 

 taken with reservation ; i1 seems more probable to us that these fry were 

 the progeny of fishes which had shed their ova during August or the first 

 lialf of September, while the largo shoals of young mullet, which undoubtedly 

 appear during the wiiitcr months are the result of the autumn spawning. 



In his excellent report to the Koyal Commission, Inspector Cain fixes the 

 date of spawning at " between the latter end of Eebruary and the middle of 

 April " for Brisbane Water, while at Shoalhaven March and April are given 

 as the breeding season. Referring to the Clarence lliver district, Mr. Hood 

 Pegus writes : — " Sea mullet commence to enter the river in March, and 

 proceed up the river as far as the salt water goes. They come in in immense 

 shoals, ;ind continue entering in and out with the tides up to July. They 

 are observed several miles off the coast before they make for the river to 

 spawn." He further states that they spawn in April, May, and June in the 

 river on sandy banks in shoal water, the ova being deposited in circular holes 

 in the sand, and the young fry make their appearance in July or sometimes 

 as late as August. Such of the breeding fish as survive the perils of the 

 river make their way to the open sea about July ; Mr. Thurgate also gives- 

 May as the breeding season in the Richmond River. 



The young Mullet on their emergence from the ova remain quiescent until 

 the absorption of the yelk-sac, after which they wander in small schools 

 along the shore in shallow water, mostly working uj) stream frequently into 

 purely fresh water ; in such places they pass the two first years of their 

 existence, during which they increase rapidly in size ; they then drop quietly 

 down the rivers and for the first time seek the open sea about the early 

 autumn months, returning, however, much improved in flavor and condition 

 during the months of January and February, at which time they are sent in 

 large numbers to the Sydney market, where they are sold as " Hard-gut 

 Mullet." Tt is scarcely necessary to say that this title is ridiculous, there 

 being no difference in the hardness of the oesophagus of the immature and 

 the adult fish ; if, therefore, a distinctive appellation is necessary for the 

 former, River, or better still, Estuary, Mullet would be far more appropriate. 



The Sea Mullet are fortunately most prolific fishes, else they could not 

 have withstood the drain on their numbers caused by the numerous enemies 

 of the ova and young fry — which comprise, along with sea birds and other 

 fishes, starfishes, echinoderms, Actinea;, &c. — as well as the persecution 

 which they undergo from the fishermen in their endeavor to reach the 

 breeding grounds. In both adult and immature fishes the ovaries are, how- 

 ever, very large, and as each individual ovum is exceedingly small, the 

 quantity shed by each fish, which, in an adult female, is computed to number 

 between two and three millions, is apparently large enough to bear the great 

 and ever increasing strain on their resources -. and in view of future develop- 

 ments, which must necessarily take place in the direction of utilising the 

 surplus catch of this fine fish by canning, smoking, &c., it is to be hoped 

 that the New South Wales Commissioners of Fisheries will not shrink from 

 their plain duty of stringently conserving the breeding grounds, and the 

 approaches to the hreedi7ig grounds, of a species which, with proper fostering 

 care, is destined to play no unimportant part in both the intercolonial and 

 the export trade of the Colony. 



In connection with this no place can be more advantageously chosen than 

 the present to point out, that few, if any, fishes can be more easily domesti- 

 cated than those belonging to the Mugilid;c, and, glancing at the wealth of 



