69 



Although all the members of this family are valuable 

 food fishes, there are only three of the list which are suffi- 

 ciently numerous on our Tasmanian coasts to claim our 

 attention as affecting the market supply, viz., the Silver 

 Bream (C. australis), the Black Bream ( G. ti'icusjndatajj 

 and the Sweep (G. sivijjiex). 



The first of these, the Silver Bi-eam, enters the brackish 

 waters of creeks and rivers during the summer months in 

 considerable numbers. They subsist chiefly upon crabs 

 and other hard-shelled animals which abound in such 

 places, and which they crush with their strong jaws, armed 

 as they are with rows of molar teeth. They are supposed 

 to shed their spaw^n in the brackish shallows during the 

 months of November and December, returning to the sea 

 before the close of June. At the mouth of Brown's River, 

 the Jordan, the Scamander, and other favourite places, the 

 amateur fisherman could always find abundance of spoj't in 

 former years ; but, latterly, in some of these places their 

 numbers apjiear to have greatly diminished, chiefly caused, 

 it is affirmed, by the use of fixed nets across the mouths of 

 the streams, by which large quantities of the immature fish 

 are ruthlessly destroyed, and possibly obstructing the 

 ingress of the mature spawning fish. It would be well if a 

 stringent measure were passed by Parliament prohibiting 

 the use or otherwise limiting the fixture of nets in such 

 situations. 



The Sweep ( Girella siinphx) and the Black Bream 

 (Girella trlcuspidata) are not taken in much abundance 

 towards the south of Tasmania, nor do they seem to ascend 

 the estuaries so freely as the Silver Bream (C. australis). 

 They are principally vegetable feeders, — their rows of fine 

 incisors, frequently tricuspidate, being well adapted for the 

 purpose. They are most frequently taken together in nets 

 (graball) in the bays of the North- West and North-East 

 Coasts, particularly the Tamar, Port Sorell, Bridport, the 

 Mersey, George's Bay, and the Scamander. Those sent to 

 Hobart are generally caught at Southport. 



The Snapper (Payrus unicolor) is seldom seen in the 

 southern waters of Tasmania, even where the reefs, depth 

 of water, and other conditions seem to be favourable. This 

 splendid fish seems to favour the warmer latitudes, fjr it 

 abounds, and foi-ms the chief market supply, along the coasts 

 of Australia. Its place in Tasmanian waters, especially 

 in the south, seems to be occupied by the Trumpeter family 

 ( Latrh), which latter seems to favour the deep fringing 

 reefs of the colder southern latitudes. The North Coast of 



