FISHES PHENOMENAL AND ECONOMICAL. 177 



Baker, of which the specimen figured is an example, is readily distinguished by the 

 long filamentous development of the united second and third rays of the dorsal fin. 

 The species, while hitherto recorded only from the New South Wales and Victorian 

 coasts, has been obtained by the writer at Fremantle and the Abrolhos Islands, 

 Western Australia. The illustration here reproduced represents a specimen from the 

 last-named habitat. 



The remaining fish, Fig. B. in Plate XXX., is Glaucosoma, hebraicum, the 

 so-called Jew-fish of the Fremantle market, and appears, so far as is known, to be 

 restricted to the Western Australian coast-line. It is taken with hook and line on the 

 Snapper Grounds, attains to as large, or even a larger, size than Pagrus unicolor, 

 and is esteemed by many to be superior to it from a gastronomic point. The colours in 

 life, which are represented by opalescently interblending tints of purple, red, and gold, 

 correspond to a marked extent with those of the last-named, and much more 

 familiar, species. A second representative of the genus, Glaucosoma scapulare, occurs on 

 the coasts of Queensland and New South Wales. It, also, is highly esteemed for 

 the table, but is of such rare occurrence as to be but seldom seen in the market. 

 The distinctive titles of Epaulette-fish and Jew-fish have been respectively conferred in 

 Queensland and New South Wales upon this species. It differs most conspicuously 

 from the Jew-fish, par excellence, G. hebraicum of Western Australia, in the abnormal 

 size and smoothness of its scapular or shoulder bone and in the black tint of the 

 integument that covers it. 



This point is a suitable one for drawing attention to the utter confusion that 

 prevails with regard to the nomenclature of the Australian market fishes. The Jew- 

 fish is an example in point. The name, as applied to the Western Australian Glauco- 

 soma hebraicum, might be appropriately retained for that species. In Sydney and 

 Brisbane, however, Scicena antarctica, which is, to all intents and purposes, identical 

 with the European " Maigre," is invested with this title, while the same name is also 

 applied almost indiscriminately throughout the Colonies to the Cat-fish eels of the 

 genus Plotosus. The title of the " King-fish " is even more heavily weighted. In 

 Victoria and in the southern districts of Western Australia, this is the name by which 

 Scicena antarctica is distinguished, while the same form in Adelaide is known as the 

 " Mulloway." The King-fish in tropical Queensland waters, identical with the " Seer- 

 fish " of India, is a large Mackerel, Cybium Comme)*soni. In the same colony, one of the 

 Tassel-fishes, Polynemus indicus, bears the same title, while in Tasmania it is a fish, 



Thyrsites Solandri, closely allied to the Barracouta. Finally, the King-fish of the Sydney 

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