THK VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 121 



ON SOME ADDITIONS TO THE FISH FAUNA OF 

 VICTORIA. 



By Jas. a. Kershaw, F.E.S., Curator of the Zoological Depart- 

 ment, National Museum, Melbourne. 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 10th Sept., 1906.) 



During the last few years I have, as opportunity permitted, 

 •devoted some of my time to the examination of the collection of 

 Victorian fishes in the National Museum, with the view to the 

 identification of many of the species not yet determined. Owing, 

 however, to the fact that such opportunities have been few and 

 far between, and even then have been much interrupted with 

 other official duties, I have, so far, made but little progress. 



Among those I have been able to determine are a few which 

 I believe have not yet been recorded from Victorian waters, and 

 I now take the opportunity of adding these to the lists already 

 published, while I hope to be able to make some further additions 

 at a future date. 



In attempting to deal with the marine fishes of any country, 

 one of the greatest essentials is a good library at one's elbow. 

 The distribution of marine fishes, generally speaking, is not 

 limited to such comparatively small areas as is the case with 

 land and even fresh-water animals, so that it is frequently 

 necessary to search through a large amount of literature, scattered 

 throughout various publications, to enable one to satisfactorily 

 locate a species. Many species which occur in our waters 

 extend their range over very wide areas, while some are even 

 world-wide in their distribution. On the other hand, many are 

 restricted to comparatively small areas, where they are dependent 

 upon local conditions for their subsistence. 



Among shore fishes the surface temperature and depth of 

 water, and the nature of the animal and vegetable products of 

 the adjacent land, have a considerable bearing upon their dis- 

 tribution, and serve to bind them to more limited areas than is 

 the case with pelagic or deep-sea fishes. Some confine them- 

 selves to rocky coasts, others to flat coasts with sandy bottoms, 

 while others again live among coral formations. 



Pelagic fishes, or those which inhabit the open ocean, roam 

 over much wider areas, and their distribution is also influenced 

 by light and the temperature of the surface water. These may 

 occasionally approach the shores in search of prey or spawning, 

 though the majority spawn in the open sea, at a great distance 

 from land. 



Regarding our Victorian fishes, the greater part of the work 

 already accomplished has been confined to but a few individuals. 

 Chief among these should be mentioned Count F. de Castelnau, 



