THE SCABBARD- OR FROST-FISH 
223; 
and cast itself up on the beach. 
This happens with tolerable cer- 
tainty ■ during the autumn and 
winter months, when the sea is 
calm and the nights frosty. Then 
the frost7fi.sh come ashore alive, 
wriggling, thrpugh the surf on 
to the beach. Two explanations 
have been offered for this extra- 
ordinary conduct. One is that 
the fish commits suicide; being 
pursued by a shark or other en- 
emy, it prefers uncertain life on 
land to certain death at sea ! The 
other and more probable hypothe- 
sis has it that the air-bladder of the 
fish becomes distended to enable 
it to reach the surface for food 
— for it is a deep-sea fish — and 
that the keen, frosty air prevents 
it from compressing the bladder 
and returning to the depths; thus it gradually drifts into shallow water, is hurled shorewards 
by the surf, and finally wriggles itself on to the beach to die. The long stretches of sandy 
beach a few miles from Dunedin are a fav^ourite resort for frost-fish catching. Two or three 
men camp out at the foot of the cliffs overhanging the beach, pitching a tent and lighting 
a huge fire, so as to render life bearable during the long vigils. The “fishing” consists in 
perambulating the beach up and down shortly before dawn, and keeping a sharp look-out in 
the surf for the silver streak which betokens the approach of a victim. As soon as a fish is 
photo by IVt Saville-Kent^ F.Z.S.^ \^Milford~cn-Sea 
FRINGED HORSE-MACKEREL 
Note the great length of the fin-rays 
lb .d, 
Photo by Rcinhold Thith Sf Co.] [Chancery Lane, IV. C. 
HORSE-MACKEREL 
The strong keel formed by ridged scales running doivn each side of the tail is a characteristic feature 
