EDIBLE EISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 169 



expanded behind, with an acutely rounded angle posteriorly, its hinder portion 

 partially concealed by the preorbital, and reaching to beneath the anterior 

 third of the orbit. Lower jaw the longer. Upper surface of head flat, 

 with a median groove, broadest in front, between the base of the upper 

 jaw and the occiput : supraciliary and occipital stria? feeble or obsolete : 

 lateral margins of occiput shnrply ridged. Xo well marked preorbital pores. 

 Jaws with an outer band of minute teeth, and an inner band of strong conical 

 teethtwenty-five to twenty-nine in number in the upper, twenty fourortwenty 

 five in the lower jaw. The distance between the origin of the dor.sal and 

 the base of the caudal is 4'60 in that between the same point and the tip of 

 the upjjer jaw, or equal to that between the anterior margin of the eye and 

 the same ; the dorsal commences above the seventh or eighth anal ray ; Ijoth 

 fins are falciform, the second ray the longest, that of the dorsal 1"40 in the 

 anal ray ; the posterior dorsal rays are not elongate, the length of the last 

 being about one third of the distance between its base and that of the 

 caudal ; the base of the dorsal is 1'30 in that of the anal, and the distance 

 between the origin of the two fins is but a trifle less than the longest anal 

 ray : the distance between the origin of the ventral and the bass of the 

 caudal is 1"50-1'75 in that between the same point and the tip of the lower 

 jaw ; its length is rather less than the height of the body, 2-25 in the distance 

 between its origin and the vent, and 1"33 in the postorbital portion of the 

 head : the pectoral is rounded behind, its length equal to the distance 

 between its base and the posterior margin of the orbit, 3"33-3'80 in the 

 length of the head, and one third longer than the height of the body: 

 caudal truncated, the lower lobe the longer; its pedicle broad and depressed 

 above and rather acutely rounded below, its height much less than its width 

 immediately behind the dorsal fin, and without lateral keel. Scales small, 

 thin, and adherent ; cheeks and entire cephalic groove scaly. Gillrakers 

 absent. 



Colors. — Above bright green with violet reflections, below silvery ; abroad 

 well marked steel blue baud from the axil of the pectoral to the base of the 

 caudal, becoming fainter beyond the origin of the anal ; a bright blue band 

 in front of the vertical margin of the preopercle : dorsal, caudal, pectoral, 

 and elongated rays of anal fins purplish ; rest of anal and ventrals gray. 



Both species of Long Tom are common on our coast, and are to be found 

 in the Sydney market during every month of the year, coming in to the bays 

 and harbors at irregular intervals in shoals of greater or less magnitude; 

 they are, however, always present during the spring and early summer months, 

 at which time they are engaged in spawning, and for this purpose they appar- 

 ently frequent the shallower parts of harbors, while the ova are of large 

 size, and consequently few in number. During the months of September 

 and October we examined four specimens of this fish, from each of which 

 the ova were exuding, and in each case the right ovary was found to be fully 

 developed, while that on the left side was empty. Nothing is known about 

 the deposition of the spawn in our species : but it is doubtless similar to 

 that of the common European Garfish*, of which Day gives the following 

 account : — " The e^gs of many have filaments springing from their outer 

 covering, which enable numerous ova either to adhere together in a mass or 

 attach themselves to contiguous objects, preventing thus their subsidence 

 into the mud." And again : — " These eggs when extruded must float in the 



* This name properly belongs to Belone, but with the usual perversity of the fishing community they 

 persist in according it to the Herivirhamphus, which should more correctly and naturally be termed the 

 Halfbcak. 



