34 NEW SOUTH WALES 
readily, and is never captured by the net. It attains a great size, fishes weighing 
35 and even 40 Ibs. being not uncommon. Jt is found as far as Jervis Bay to the 
south ; to the north it has probably a much more extended range. It has been 
observed of this fish that those caught off the ‘ Solitaries” and other places to the 
north of Port Jackson are as a rule of larger size than those found to the south. 
It is rarely seen now in the Sydney market, owing to the great falling off in the 
supply obtained from Port Jackson Heads, Coogee, and other places where it was 
formerly abundant. It is difficult to account for this diminution of the supply, 
for the causes which undoubtedly affect the supply of other fishes do not apply to 
this. The spawn is not deposited in shallow bays constantly raked by nets, the 
young are never taken in the seine, and the number of the adult fish captured has 
never been sufficient to account for the deficiency. It is probable tHat the fish 
has merely sought retreats further removed from the stir and traffic of Port 
Ji ackson, EBC. 
The Wirrah. 
(Plate IV.) 
““WirRaH” or PLectropomas is a genus similar to that of Serranus, 
but armed with a row of spinous teeth on the lower jaw which are 
directed forwards, besides the pair of canines above. The dorsal fin 
has from seven to thirteen spines. This is a tropical fish for the most 
part. There are about thirty species known, of which we have a dozen in 
Australian seas. Our common marketable species is P. ocellatwm, ' 
Giinth. (P. cyaneo-stigma in R.R.C.) In this species the body is 
equal to the length of the head, and two-fifths of the whole without the 
caudal. Preoperculum with three spines, beneath the anterior of which 
is the strongest spine, which is sometimes bifid. Colour, brownish ; 
head, body, and base of the fins with numerous roundish spots, bluish in 
the centre and black round the margin, more numerous and smaller in 
older fishes. 
One of our most experienced amateur fishermen (Mr. A. Oliver) 
informs me that the wirrah is often mistaken by the tyro for Serranus 
damelit, They are both percoid fishes ; but here the resemblance ends. 
A good black rock cod is equal to the best turbot, and the best wirrah 
has the flavour and consistency of leather, which no sauce or cooking 
can change. Both fishes are remarkably tenacious of life. They are 
lively in the boat or basket long after every other fish has ceased to 
move. 
The genus Plectropoma is also numerously represented in our seas; it does not 
however furnish the market with a ral species of value as food. The best 
known species is the ‘‘wirrah” of the fishermen—Plectropoma cyaneo-stigma of 
Giinther.—R.R.C. : : 
The Glaucosoma. 
Glaucosoma scapulare, Macleay. An excellent food fish, but so 
rare that it need not be described, especially as it is figured at the end 
of the first volume of Macleay’s catalogue. The name of Ramsay as the 
authority, there given, should probably be Macleay, as its first published 
description was by Macleay, who quotes the name as a manuscript one 
of Ramsay’s. See Proc. Linn, Soc. N. 8. Wales, vol. v, p. 334. It is 
sometimes called a Jew-fish, because another species, G. hebraicum, goes 
by that name in Western Australia, 
