SCABBARD FISHES AND HAIR-TAILS, 



361 



and customs of the frost-fish, but the little that has been made manifest is decidedly 

 peculiar. It is a deep-water fish, and yet, strange to say, has never yet been 

 taken by the net, the rod, or the line. Even the all-gathering trawl has hitherto 

 failed to bring it to the surface of the deep. How then is its capture effected ? 

 To all appearance the frost-fish is captured by the fishermen only when it commits 

 suicide and immolates itself on the sandy beaches of the Pacific. The facts are, 

 that on calm and frosty nights, during the autumn and winter months, numbers 

 of frost-fish come ashore alive through the surf on the beaches before referred to, 

 and there wriggle on to the firmer sands above, to be devoured by the watchful 

 sea-birds, or picked up by the fortunate fisherman. No satisfactory reason has 

 as yet been assigned for this rash act, although numerous theories have been 



SCABBARD-PISH 



nat. size). 



propounded to account for it. One is that the hapless fish is pursued by a shark 

 or other enemy, and prefers uncertain life on land to certain death at sea. 

 Another and a more plausible theory is that the fish distends its air-bladder to 

 enable it to reach the surface for air or food, and that the keen frosty air there 

 prevents it from compressing the bladder, and thus returning to its habitat under 

 the waves. In this way the luckless fish gradually drifts into shallow water, and 

 is dashed ashore by the surf, only to struggle on to dry land to meet its fate. 

 As may be imagined, the capture of the frost-fish has nothing specially sportsman- 

 like about it. The long sandy beaches some twelve miles from Dunedin are the 

 favourite resort of the frost-fisher. The usual plan is to form a party of two or 

 more, and camp out overnight at the foot of the clifis which overhang the beach. 

 Here a huge fire is lighted, and a tent pitched close at hand. The night, of course, 

 must be clear and calm, as well as frosty, otherwise the long Pacific rollers make 

 the surf too high for the successful capture of the game. The fishing itself is 

 rather slow w r ork. It consists merely in walking from end to end of the beach 



