114 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



PISCES. 



Trachinotus ovatus an Enemy to the Queensland Oyster Fisheries. 



One of the Blue Books recently received from the Colony of Queens- 

 land gives particulars of the Oyster fisheries in Moreton Bay, which 

 supply the city of Brisbane. The cultivation of the Oyster-banks, by 

 thinning out the tops of the reefs and by culling out clumps, is pro- 

 ceeding apace. The banks have been much benefited by the regular 

 rains which have visited Queensland and the bays and estuaries. 

 The fishing in Moreton Bay during the year has been highly satis- 

 factory. Mullet is to be got at all times in the bays, rivers, and 

 inlets, while from Moreton Bay large supplies of Whiting, Taylor, 

 Gar, Bream, and other kinds have been drawn. Owing to the in- 

 creasing number of Sharks infesting the Bay, it is suggested that a 

 bonus be given per gallon on Shark-oil, and a bonus per ton on ferti- 

 lizer made from the carcases. Dugong fishing has been going on 

 briskly. Fish and Prawns have been very plentiful off the coast, and 

 the Queensland authorities are hopeful that the representatives of the 

 Scottish fishermen who recently visited Australia, and who are negoti- 

 ating for an Australian fishing centre, will settle on the Queensland 

 coast. 



The Oyster fisheries have been attacked lately by " a peculiar kind 

 of fish, which works in droves, and crushes the shell of the young 

 Oysters with little apparent effort." The Report continues : — " These 

 fish I have seen working, but they are very shy, and it seems almost 

 impossible to catch them. In appearance they resemble the 1 big 

 green Toad,' with similar jaws, and run to as much as three feet six 

 inches in length, with a peculiar feathery top to the tail ; they work 

 in rows, and will cut a track through a bank of young Oysters, leaving 

 the white broken shell looking as if a steam-roller had passed over it 

 To prevent this the lessee went to the expense of fencing in about 

 ninety acres with galvanized wire-netting, which plan, he informs me, 

 has proved very successful." A specimen of this fish has at length 

 been captured, and has been found to be a large sample of the species 

 known as Trachinotus ovatus, or, to coin a vernacular name, the 

 " Snub-nosed Swallow-tail." The genus inhabits the inter-tropical 

 seas of both hemispheres. — The London Correspondent of the 

 • North Queensland Herald ' (Bassishaw House, Basinghall 

 Street, E.C.). 



[The food of Trachinotus carolinus "seems to consist very largely 

 of small bivalve shells," &c. (Investig. Aquat. Resources and Fisheries 



