114 
The N.Z. Journal op Science and Technology. [June 
NOTES ON THE EDIBLE FISHES OF NEW ZEALAND, 
With a Record of Fishes exposed for Sale in 
Wellington during 1918. 
By W. J. Phillipps, Dominion Museum. 
In this paper a list of the chief food fishes of New Zealand is given, with 
some information in each case as to distribution, spawning season, &c. 
The need for such a list is immediately apparent in view of the fact that 
no work dealing with our edible fishes as a whole has appeared since the 
publication of Sherrin’s Handbook* in 1886. In a previous paperf I gave 
notes on a number of the more common edible fishes of Wellington. Since 
then a large amount of information has been collected from all parts of 
New Zealand, which not only adds to our knowledge of the species Sherrin 
described, but also concerns some species he did not mention. Much of 
the information supplied to me needs further verification, and is here 
omitted. It is clear that much accurate observation is still needed before 
we shall be in a position rightly to conserve the large and varied supply 
of our marine food fishes. 
The distribution given below refers only to the extent of the habitat 
of the species around the New Zealand coasts. Many extend to Australia 
and elsewhere. 
Two fishes, one, from Bay of Islands, known popularly as “ pink 
maomao,” and another, sold in Auckland as “ barraconda,” are omitted 
from the list. 
The list is followed by a table recording the fishes exposed for sale in 
Wellington during 1918, which has been compiled chiefly from daily notes 
on the fishes received by the Hawke’s Bay Fisheries Company and the 
New Zealand Trawling and Fish supply Company, and may be regarded as 
being fairly representative of the fishes received in Wellington annually. 
I have to place on record my appreciation of the help and numerous 
services rendered me by my many friends in all parts of New Zealand 
connected with or interested in the fisheries. 
1. Polyprion oxygeneios (Bloch and Schneider). Groper; Hapuku. 
Secured on rocky shelves in water up to 300 fathoms. Common, 
Bay of Islands, 6 to 20 fathoms. 
Spawning season : Females with fully developed ova are common 
during August. 
Distribution : New Zealand coasts. 
2. Polyprion americanus (Bloch and Schneider). Bass; Moeone. 
Generally to be secured in deeper water than the groper. 
Spawning season : I have a record of the ova being ripe in examples 
secured off Island Bay during September. 
Distribution : New Zealand coasts. 
* R. A. A. Sherrix, Handbook of the Fishes of New Zealand, prepared under the 
Instructions of the Commissioner of Trade and Customs, 307 pp., Auckland, N.Z. 
f W. J. Phillipps, Edible Fishes of New Zealand, N.Z. Journ. Sci. 6s Tech., vol. 1, 
No. 5, pp. 268-71, 1918. 
