131 



On placing in the Museiira the skeleton of a species of fish familiarly 

 known to the practical fisherman as the Kelp-fish, I shall confine my obser- 

 vations to the remarkable circumstance of the skeleton presenting a bright or 

 bluish green colour, which is so permanent as to resist the process of prolonged 

 maceration and subsequent bleaching, and even boiling. The question arises, 

 whether the food is the cause of this. Careful dissection and enquiry into 

 the habitat, and consequently feeding ground, has, I presume to think, at least 

 to a great extent determined this. 



On the second day of August last (1870), a large quantity of the Kelp-fish 

 were ofiered for sale in and about Wellingi;on, and although by no means 

 prepossessing in external appearance, being of a dingy black colour and 

 covered with a slimy mucus, a few were purchased. My first enquiiy was, 

 when, where, and how they were captured. I found that the fish frequent 

 Cook's Strait, more especially off" and around the Island of Mana ; they are 

 very rarely taken with a bait, but are fished for by means of a net in the foi-m 

 of a bag with a hoop round the mouth, and secured with a rope to a branch of 

 the kelp, which grows of vast dimensions ai^ound the Island of Mana. The 

 net is set amongst the kelp, where the rise and fall of the tide produces a kind 

 of free run, which the fishermen avail themselves of in setting their net, and 

 upon returning they find it full of the fish, of all sizes. The kelp in this 

 locality may be viewed as a vast submerged forest, growing from stems two or 

 more feet in circumference, fixed to the bottom of the sea, and is often used by 

 the Cook's Strait fishermen and cajjtains of small coasting vessels to secure 

 their crafts to in a gale of wind. The fish, I have said, are covered with a slimy 

 mucus, like that of the eel, and gives a feelriag to the hand similar to that of 

 the kelp, so that the movements of the fish (provided, as it is, with ample fins) 

 must bear a strong resemblance in its gliding amongst the branches of the 

 submarine forest to that of the Athene Novce Zelandice, in his nightly silent 

 flight amongst the surpassingly beautiful terrestrial forest. 



Ovaria resembling in size and number that of the trout. The ova were 

 vascular, and many floating free, indicating that the fish were spawning, and 

 consequently ought to be in the very best condition. 



As an accurate drawing of the external appearance of the fish has been 

 made by Mr. Buchanan (see Plate XVIIL, fig. 2), I shall merely add a few 

 notes on the anatomy. 



Stomach, a simple sac ; diameter 1| inches, diminishing in calibre gradually 

 to 6 lines, (no pancreatic cceca) ; tunics of the stomach thin, distended, with a 

 green semi-fluid mass ; peritoneal tunic bright silveiy. Intestine 3 feet 4 inches 

 in length. Liver pale yellow colour, friable, no oil ; composed of four 

 irregularly-shaped lobes ; gall-bladder not observed. Spleen comparatively 

 small, dark, like a clot of blood. Kidneys placed near the head, extending 

 along the spine for about 4-|- inches ; concealed by the swimming bladder. 



