ENORMOUS GLOBE-FISH 31^5 



short bark ; but whether this sound is articulate, or caused 

 by the forcible passage of air through the gills, I cannot 

 positively say. It seems that the animal has some control 

 over the issue of the sound ; at any rate, so it appeared 

 to me. 



I have seen several flights of flying-fish about the reef, 

 but these curious fish are not common there. The species 

 {Exoccetus evolans) is eminently a pelagic one, and is but 

 seldom seen inshore on any part of the Australian coast. 



There are a great number of seemingly coral-feeding 

 fishes about the reef, most of them of small size, but 

 occurring often in great numbers. One of these, remark- 

 able for the abnormal development of its tail and fins, and 

 still more so for its curiously doubled or aborted medial 

 line, appears to be Bleeker's plesiops {Plesiops bleekert). 



Globe- or sun-fishes of enormous size are found on the 

 outer side of the reef They have been taken exceeding 

 half a ton in weight, and one which I saw during one of 

 my submarine rambles could not have been less than 

 eight feet long, almost as many broad, and probably 

 weighed more than double the above-named weight 



I cannot exhaust the list of fishes found on and about 

 the reef A few of the rarest and most curious have been 

 briefly described. Amongst others that are more or less 

 common, I have captured or seen species of goby, dory, 

 ling, cod, gar-pike, cofler-fish, and, as I have before 

 mentioned, there is scarcely a fish known on the Australian 

 coasts that does not visit the reef at some season of the 

 year, while the majority of species are permanent residents 

 there. Even rare pelagic species often come into the 

 deep water immediately outside the reef, and occasionally 

 find their way through the opening into the shallow water 

 fronting the coast, where they usually get bewildered and 

 fall a prey to the ready fishermen. Whales used at one 

 time to frequently meet with this fate ; they have been so 

 persecuted, however, that now they are seldom seen near 

 the reef. 



I cannot omit mention of the turtles, which still 

 frequent the reef in considerable, but yearly dwindling 



