SCAB BARD-FISHES AND HAIR TAILS. 
361 
and customs of the frost-fish, but the little that has been made manifest is decidedly 
peculiar. It is a deep-water fish, and yet, strange to say, has never yet been 
taken oy the net, the rod, or the line. Even the all-gathering trawl has hitherto 
failed to bring it to the surface of the deep. How then is its capture effected ? 
To all appearance the frost-fish is captured by the fishermen only when it commits 
suicide and immolates itself on the sandy beaches of the Pacific. The facts are, 
that on calm and frosty nights, during the autumn and winter months, numbers 
of frost-fish come ashore alive through the surf on the beaches before referred to, 
and there wriggle on to the firmer sands above, to be devoured by the watchful 
sea-birds, or picked up by the fortunate fisherman. No satisfactory reason has 
as yet been assigned for this rash act, although numerous theories have been 
scabbard-fish (Jj- nat. size). 
propounded to account for it. One is that the hapless fish is pursued by a shark 
or other enemy, and prefers uncertain life on land to certain death at sea. 
Another and a more plausible theory is that the fish distends its air-bladder to 
enable it to reach the surface for air or food, and that the keen frosty air there 
prevents it from compressing the bladder, and thus returning to its habitat under 
the waves. In this way the luckless fish gradually drifts into shallow water, and 
is dashed ashore by the surf, only to struggle on to dry land to meet its fate. 
As may be imagined, the capture of the frost-fish has nothing specially sportsman¬ 
like about it. The long sandy beaches some twelve miles from Dunedin are the 
favourite resort of the frost-fisher. The usual plan is to form a party of two or 
more, and camp out overnight at the foot of the cliffs which overhang the beach. 
Here a huge fire is lighted, and a tent pitched close at hand. The night, of course, 
must be clear and calm, as well as frosty, otherwise the long Pacific rollers make 
the surf too high for the successful capture of the game. The fishing itself is 
rather slow work. It consists merely in walking from end to end of the beach 
