CHECK-LIST OF THE FISH AND FISH-LIKE ANIMALS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



By ALLAN R. McCULLOCH, Zoologist. Australian Museum. 



{By permission of the Trustees of the Australian Museum.) 



Part 1. 



Though there are already several lists of the " Fishes" of New South Wales, they do not enable one 

 to identify the numerous species unless one has access to a well stocked library. The purpose of the 

 present list is to overcome this difficulty, and it is hoped that the accompanying keys and illustrations 

 will indicate the identity of any recorded from the waters of this State. 



Five hundred and eighty-eighl species arc at present listed from both the marine and fresh waters 

 of New South Wales, though a number of them are very rare lure, and their inclusion is, in some 

 cases, based upon the capture of only one or two specimens, A leu others will probably, prove to be 

 synonymous with one another, but there are doubtless additional species mm known only from Queens- 

 land or Victoria, whose range will be later found to extend into New South Wales. As at present known, 

 there are about 1900 Sharks. Kays, anil Fishes recorded from Australian waters, so that the fish fauna 

 of this State would appear to include approximately a third of the total. 



The marine fish fauna of New South Wales is made up ot two distinct elements, one consisting of 

 tropical fishes which have extended their range southward from Queensland, and the other of southern 

 species ranging northward. The northern forms occasionally straggle southward of Port Jackson, 

 entering the cooler latitudes by way of a warm current which sweeps down from Queensland during a 

 certain portion of the year. The general temperature of our waters, however, appears to be more 

 favourable to the southern species, which constitute the greater portion of our fish fauna. 



Illustrations. — The illustrations are in almost every case miniature reproductions of the figures 

 quoted ; with few exceptions a typical species of each genus is figured, and when a genus includes 

 several and varied species, two or more figures are supplied. A reader wishing to identify any specimen 

 may therefore turn over the plates until something resembling it is found ; he can then refer to the 

 number in the text corresponding to that of the illustration, which will direct him to simple keys indi- 

 cating the specific characters of the allied species. 



Acknowledgments. — For the preparation of the excellent photographs which compose the plates, 

 I am greatly indebted to Mr. T. C. Roughley, who has spared no pains to overcome numerous difficulties 

 in their production ; stains in the paper of the older plates, folds and other surface irregularities, and 

 conflicting colours, have each presented their troubles, which he has consistently disposed of. 



I have further to gratefully acknowledge the loan of numerous originals of the figures quoted, with 

 permission to republish them in reduced form ; references to the publications in which they originally 

 appeared are given throughout the text. The greater number of these have been lent by the Trustees 

 and the Director of the Australian Museum, and others by the Director of the Queensland Museum, 

 and the Director of the South Australian Museum ; 1 am similarly indebted to the Councils of the 

 Linnean and Royal Societies of New South Wales. Likewise, equally grateful acknowledgment 

 is here rendered to the numerous authors of the papers quoted, whose figures have been copied on the 

 accompanying plates. 



