36 NEW SOUTH WALES 
By many it is said that if eaten perfectly fresh there is no danger in 
making use of it, as it is one of the most abundant food fishes in the 
Colony of Victoria. It is sold in great quantities by the hawkers round 
the suburbs of Melbourne. At best it is but a poor fish for the table, 
yet, strange to say, there is considerable difference in this respect 
between what is caught in Port Phillip and on our seaboard: with 
us it is considered to be one of the worst of food fishes and scarcely 
palatable. Prof. McCoy* says, of the Victorian Arripis :—“ Nearly 
all the cases of fish-poisoning in Victoria are referable to this species. 
Some persons are under the impression that the bad consequences 
are due to incipient decomposition; but I am certain that this is 
‘not always the case, as I have known several instances in which 
the effects were strongly marked after eating perfectly fresh examples, 
. caught only an hour or so before cooking, It is curious that only 
at certain times, and to certain people, that this fish is more or 
less poisonous, while certainly good for food under other circum- 
stances not yet understood. I have known three out of five people 
made seriously ill from eating at breakfast newly caught fish from 
one basket, and the two others felt no inconvenience whatever. The 
symptoms are generally a few hours after eating, an extraordinary 
redness or flush of the skin, particularly of the face, often followed by 
an eruption, which soon passes away, with great derangement of the 
digestive organs, headache, vomiting, &. Some cases of death have 
been reported, but generally the bad symptoms pass away in a few 
hours or days. Dr. Youl, the city Coroner for many years, informs me 
that though he has seen many of these cases of fish-poisoning, the 
deaths reported were found by the Jury to be due to other causes. The 
flesh has often a dull pinkish tinge, which may be one of the reasons for 
the popular application of the names of ‘salmon’ and ‘salmon trout’ 
to this fish, which does not resemble the true salmon in any important 
respect.” It seems to “school” about the latter end of -summer, when 
shoals ‘of astonishing magnitude annually visit our shores. It is the 
A. truttaceus of Cuvier and Valenciennes, and is on the whole a large 
and beautiful fish. 
Mr. Macleay is of opinion that its evil reputation has arisen from the 
rapidity with which it decomposes after capture. It is said to commence 
to spawn in September on the east coast. The fry are unknown, as the 
young are developed into the so-called trout form when they come into 
the bay. They are caught with the net and line. There is much 
variation in the colours of the young. 
Of late years some fishermen of our port have been trying to devise 
a drift or purse net for this fish, which sometimes commands as much as 
4s, a dozen. They have not as yet succeeded. 
In this family (Percide) are included some of our fresh-water fishes. 
It will however be more convenient for the purposes of this volume if 
they are treated altogether in a subsequent chapter. 
* Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria. Decade II., p, 22. 
