FISHES—PHENOMENAL AND ECONOMICAL. , 167 
of dusky brown. The fourth fish to the extreme right in this series is the Silver 
Trumpeter, Latris Forsteri, having much the same pattern of colour markings as the 
“Real” or Hobart Trumpeter, Z. hecateia, immediately beneath it, but entirely wanting 
the finer lines and symmetry of form of that species. The tints of the colour bands 
in this species are also very distinct, varying in individuals from a golden brown to a 
more or less definite red-brown or light red hue. The remaining example of the 
Cirrhitide represented in this plate is the large fish to the right in the second row 
from the bottom. This is the “ Butter-fish,” Chilodactylus nigricans, of the Hobart and 
Melbourne markets, a somewhat rare visitor to the southern island colony, but plentiful 
on the Victorian coast-line. Extending westward, it constitutes one of the commoner 
market fishes at Adelaide and Fremantle. The colours of this species are somewhat 
attractive, consisting of a blue-grey ground, variegated with more or less well-defined 
oblique bands of blackish spots. A large fish is often over three feet in length and 
weighs ten or twelve pounds. 
The yet larger massive fish, Callorhynchus antarcticus, on the same line as 
Chilodactylus nigricans, is, as will be recognised by the formation of its tail, a 
member of the shark tribe. As such it is appropriately referred to among other of 
its more immediate congeners at the end of this Chapter. 
The genus Beryx, of the family of the Berycide, has several representatives 
in Australian waters that are greatly esteemed for food. One of these, Beryx afinis, 
is known in Sydney as the “ Nannegai.” The same species and an allied form, 
B. Mulleri, are supplied to both the Adelaide and Fremantle markets, and are there 
distinguished by the title of ‘“ King Snappers.” The fishes of this genus are among 
the most resplendent of known species. Both of the two forms named are, when 
freshly caught, the most brilliant scarlet carmine with various opalescent tints, chiefly blue 
and lilac reflections. Added to this, their abnormally large and lustrous eyes confer 
upon them a most distinguished appearance. The chief interest attached to these 
Berycide is, however, the circumstance that they represent the oldest known group of 
spine-finned or Acanthopterygian fishes. They were most abundantly represented in the 
cretaceous epoch, and their known living representatives are mostly confined to deep 
water. The occurrence of the few existing littoral species which still linger around the 
Australian coast-line is of high significance, taken into account with the many other 
ancient forms of animal and vegetable life that so notably distinguish this Island- 
Continent. An illustration of Beryx Mulleri, the most abundantly represented Western 
Australian member of this interesting genus, is given in Plate XXIX. 
