AN IMPORTANT FOOD-FISH. Ol. 
roaming about in the harbor of Port Jackson in shoals, 
hundreds of men and _ boys line the wharves, all endeavour- 
ing to entice the fish to take their bait—which is not a. very 
difficult feat to accomplish, as a Tailer is usually too hungry 
to stop to see whether there is anything attached to the bait. 
Shoals of the full-grown fish also often make their appear- 
ance in the harbors, but, as a rule, these prefer the open 
sea. However, the adults are nearly always present—either 
singly or in small groups—in the harbors and lakes. In 
Port Jackson and other localities when a net is hauled 
ashore, not uncommonly half a mullet will be picked out of 
the net; usually the head part. When one sees this he knows 
that “ Master Tailer’’ has been busy; for it is a habit of 
this fish, that when he cannot take in the whole of a fish 
he takes as large a portion as he can comfortably—or, 
perhaps, uncomfortably—swallow; snapping it off with his 
wonderful steel-trap-like jaws. It is a most absorbing and 
interesting sight to see two or three Tailer “rushing” a 
small shoal of mullet on, say, a shallow, sandy flat.. They 
race along with almost lightning speed, sweeping round now 
and again in the most graceful curves, cleaving the water 
at the surface with their blue backs, and sending the little 
ripples and eddies away on each side of them. Though at 
times great numbers of large fish could be captured by our 
fishermen, no special fishery for this species yet exists on 
our coast; the principal reason being that the fish decomposes 
so rapidly after death, this rendering it what is called a ‘* bad 
fish for market.’ This is very regrettable, as a freshly 
caught and cooked Tailer is of fine flavor and fit to grace 
the best tables. 
By the foregoing remarks I do not wish to imply that 
the Tailer is not already recognised as an important food- 
fish, because in the yearly aggregate a considerable amount 
is sold (and it is well-known that a freshly caught and cooked 
Tailer is of fine flavor, and is fit to grace the best tables), 
but these are chiefly captured with other species, and form 
but an infinitesimal proportion of the enormous shoals which 
abound in our waters. Under present conditions, if these 
