95 



THE FLORA AND FAUNA OF NUYTS ARCHIPELAGO AND THE 

 INVESTIGATOR GROUP. 



No. 7.— THE FISHES. 



By Edgar R. Waite, F.L.S., C.M.Z.S. 

 (Contribution from the South Australian Museum.) 



[Read April 12, 1923.] 



Plate III. 



The majority of the fishes here recorded were obtained with hand lines 

 from either the "Simplon" (1914) ^i) or the "Wokata" (1923) or from the rocks 

 during our sojourn on Pearson Island. No rock pools were exposed at low 

 tide, and it may be said that none exist, the granite everywhere descending 

 precipitously or by a gradual slope into the sea. To the west and close behind 

 our camp two large conjoined pools were found; they are situated far above 

 high tide line, but receive considerable volumes of water as a result of the waves 

 breaking against the rocks. It was on a rock about 10 feet above the level of these 

 pools that I found the encrusting coral exhibited. To work this pool for fishes 

 seemed to be a forlorn hope ; a narrow crevice connecting the two pools harboured 

 a strong growth of seaweed, and an investigation of this weed yielded the 

 Cristiceps and Ophiclinus listed, together with several Nudibranchs and 

 Crustaceans. The following is a list of the fishes obtained : — 



Sphyraenidae : Sphyraena novae-hollandiac , Gunther. 



Cheilodactylidae : Threpterius maculosa, Richardson. 



Labridae : Pseudolabrus tetricns, Richardson ; Pictilabrus laticlavius , 



Richardson; Achocrodus gouldii, Richardson. 

 Blenniidae: Ophiclinus gracilis, Waite; Clinus perspicillatus, Cuvier and 



Valenciennes. 

 Monacanthidae : Cantherines hippocrepis, Quoy and Gaimard. 

 Diodontidae: Allomycterus jaculifcrus, Cuvier. 



Threpterius maculosus, Richardson. 



PI. iii. 



D, xiv.. 18; A, iii.. 8; V, i., 5 ; P, 7+8; C, 13+4; L. 1., 54; 



L, t, 11+21. 

 Length of head, 2-9 ; height of body, 27 ; length of caudal, 437 in the 

 length, caudal excluded. Diameter of eye, 375 ; length of snout, 55 ; inter- 

 orbital space, 6-6 in the head. 



Head very low at the eyes, rising abruptly to the dorsal fin ; interorbital 

 space flat, narrowest in front ; upper profile angular, posterior nostrils situated 

 on each side of a protuberance above the front margin of the eye; anterior nostril, 

 lower, in front of the eye, within a low rim which has a skinny flap behind. 

 Eye very large, touching the upper profile, its depth equal to that of the area 

 below it, mouth oblique ; the upper jaw formed wholly of the premaxilla ; 

 maxilla expanded behind, extending to beyond the middle of the eye. Strong 

 canine teeth in both jaws, in a single series; similar but smaller teeth on the 



(1) Waite, Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Austr., xxjxix., 1915, p. 455. 



