forest and stream. 
[Sept. 18, 1909. 
460 
The Australian Schnapper. 
The following is the prize essay (for trophy 
presented by Casson Smith) for the best origi¬ 
nal paper or essay on a Victorian indigenous 
fish, or group of fishes, dealing with its or their 
life history, habits, utility, etc., and read before 
the members of the Victorian Fish Protective 
Society and Anglers’ Club, at Melbourne, Aus¬ 
tralia, on June 25. 1909. by J. T. Champley. We 
quote liberally. Reference is had to the schnap¬ 
per (Pagrus unicolor ) : 
The schnapper family —sparidce stands out 
as a species distinctly Australian. This very dis¬ 
tinctness would point to it being old, very old. 
Maybe as old as the land it surrounds—the 
oldest land of this old globe. T he first mention 
1 have been able to find of it being caught by 
white men is in an account of Captain Flinders 
voyage to Tort Phillip, where, off what must 
now be known as Mallacoota Inlet, the account 
quaintly says: 
“The ship being becalmed, the sailors cast out 
some fishing lines, baited with pieces of meat, 
which was at once snapped up by large red 
fishes, the likes of which none of us had seen 
before, and which for lack of a better name, 
we called them snappers, and very good eating, 
indeed.” 
The fish had, however, been previously caught 
along the New South Wales coast, though I 
have not been able to find an account, but there 
can be no doubt that it was known to the early 
navigators, who always took care to carry a 
good supply of hooks and lines, but to Flinders 
men belongs the honor of naming him in the 
vernacular. As the “Woolomi,” as he was called 
by the aboriginals, he was familiar to the early 
settlers at Botany and Port Jackson. In 1830 
Cuvier classified him in the scientific world as 
Pagrus unicolor of the family sparidce, the same 
family to which belong the ludrick and bream. 
The habits of all littoral fish have a certain 
similitude, differing only in degree from the 
purely pelagian species, although this may not 
be so divergent as is usually thought. One habit 
which all possess is that of moving about in 
company, or, as is generally expressed, in shoals. 
This is of the greatest assistance in their study. 
Of perhaps equal importance are the apparently 
fixed laws that govern their regular migration. 
I say apparent, but with regard to the schnapper 
we are really in ignorance of the reasons that 
govern such migration, which so regularly takes 
place, which is in fact always proceeding. There 
are many obscure, and as yet, unknown causes 
that affect the migration of fish. With the 
schnapper I consider the three principal ones 
are: Firstly, the search for food; secondly, 
favorable spawning and propagating grounds; 
and thirdly, intuition. By intuition I would 
mean that force which acts instinctively—doing 
the right thing at the right time, and this force 
must be a great factor in the habits of all fish. 
The schnapper is essentially a bottom feeder, 
and prefers rubbly seaweed strewn patches near 
the tail of the larger rocky reefs. If the angler 
can strike a place where small rocks are strewn 
along a sandy, shelly bottom, he will have an 
ideal spot for not only schnapper, but for other 
varieties of fish, for it is here that fish feed— 
the many forms of Crustacea and mollusca most 
abound. Such a place, when found, should be 
precisely noted, as it can be relied on to give 
the angler good results in the season. Schnap¬ 
per move along near the bottom very quickly 
and have exceptionally quick sight. A bait can 
be seen fully twenty feet away, and the fish 
will pick it up, so to speak, in its stride. Should 
they, however, leisurely pick it up and seem to 
tinker with it, the angler may feel glad, for. in 
that case the schnapper’s great and untiring 
enemy—the shark—is not just then about. The 
schnapper is the daintiest morsel of all to the 
shark, but nature has well fitted the schnapper 
for its protection. The large, protruding, beau¬ 
tiful eyes can take in at once twenty-six points 
of the compass, leaving but six points for the 
shark to maneuver unseen in. Once the enemy 
has been sighted, the shark has a very poor 
chance of catching the schnapper, otherwise this 
species would have been extinct long ages ago. 
Sneaking like a wolf, belly to the ground, a 
sudden spring with the teeth-lined jaw ex¬ 
tended, is the sea wolf’s method—cold, cruel and 
cowardly to the last—the scavenger of the seas, 
with not one single redeeming fault or virtue. 
To illustrate how even the largest of sharks 
are infatuated with schnapper, they will en¬ 
deavor to take small fish of one pound weight 
from the angler’s hook, even when a school of 
porpoises are in the neighborhood, and a hun¬ 
dred weight of food could be had for the hunt¬ 
ing- . . 
Although weather conditions must, I think, 
influence their arrival into, and departure from 
Port Phillip Bay, it is most generally conceded 
that the main shoal enters the heads during the 
first part of October, leaving again about the 
end of April—say a sojourn of seven and a half 
months—entering full of spawn and departing 
with a two or three months’ fresh growth—so 
we must come to the conclusion that that most 
important act of spawning takes place in the 
bay also, and the question at once arises, where 
and how? As to where, I think on no reef in 
particular, but rather on or close to all the prin¬ 
cipal reefs in the bay. The male and female 
schnapper having paired, and the time arrived 
for propagation, a sandy spot on the edge of a 
rock is chosen. The male fish, with the aid of 
his powerful shoulders, scoops out a hollow 
close to the rock. The female at once deposits 
the ova, which is immediately vivified by the 
male, who covers it lightly over with a thin 
layer of sand. In about forty days, all going 
well, schnapper fry will result, which must, as 
individuals, take their chance and fight their 
own battles. 
I have been much struck this season with the 
erratic reports of our schnapper anglers. By 
erratic, I mean the reports have been so vari¬ 
able and irregular as to give one very little 
guide in classifying their movements; in fact, 
the reports only confirm what I have supposed 
for some time, that schnapper in Port Phillip 
(and, of course, elsewhere also) move about 
much more freely than is imagined. For in¬ 
stance on a certain day anglers fishing along the 
Portarlington shore have good catches. The 
same day at Mordialloc the catches are practi¬ 
cally nil. Another day good catches on the 
Mordialloc reefs, with correspondingly poor re¬ 
sults off Portarlington. Again, splendid reports 
are sent in from Altona. The same day, with 
a goodly number of anglers afloat, no catch of 
any importance is reported from elsewhere. 
Now, considering that on each occasion equal 
weather and tidal conditions prevail, these facts 
must claim our earnest attention. When we 
consider that the distance from the Portarling¬ 
ton to the Mordialloc reefs is only about twenty- 
three miles, at most a four hours’ swim, may it 
not be reasonable to suppose that a large pro¬ 
portion of the fish forming the principal shoal 
swim to and from reef to reef, as their enemies 
the sharks become too numerous, or in search 
of feed? Habits of all living creatures, as be¬ 
fore mentioned, are to some extent always sub¬ 
ject to outside influence, which influence itself 
may be variable, hence habits may be continued 
for some time after the condition that called 
them forth has ceased to exist. It is as well 
to, if possible, couple the cause with the result. 
Of all Australian fish the schnapper is the 
widest distributed, the best understood, the most 
beautiful and the best sport—and the best eat¬ 
ing. Its supply would be the easiest of control 
The schnapper’s habits during its stay in Port 
Phillip are known and understood, but as to hi: 
affairs outside the heads, we are not nearly sc 
well acquainted. His disappearance at all frotr 
the bay is due to weather conditions, the com 
paratively shallow water not suiting him during 
the winter, and so he either goes out and north 
or retires to deeper waters, which are not si 
subject to atmospheric changes. That the deep 
est parts of the bay may be frequented all th 
year by a few schnappers I am quite ready t 
believe, but not in enough quantities to void 
general proposition. There will always be strag 
glers from every shoal and every flock. In ou 
endeavors to understand the habits of fish I d 
not think we allow nearly enough for the gre; 
effects directly due to weather conditions. TI 
schnapper is found in all Australian waters, al: 
near the islands within 500 miles of the mail 
land, excepting those north of 10 degrees soul 
latitude. As we have not yet undertaken tl 
systematic marking, and recording the mov 
ments of indigenous fish, we are bound to ha' 
recourse to comparison, and it must be remet 
bered that unless by comparison values wou 
be worthless. 
When we look at that beautiful specimen 
our rooms, noting the large tail and fins, t 
strong and muscular appearance of the wh( 
fish, and when we know that the slow-movii 
clumsy halibut has been taken, within a f< 
months, over 500 miles from where liberate 
then surely it is not too much to suppose tl 
the larger schnapper may seek congenial watt 
a thousand miles away, for the strength of th 
swimming powers would enable them ou le., 
ing the heads to make the circumference of 
continent, and still be in time to enter ag 
at the appointed time. I think the larger spe 
mens at any rate travel further afield that ■ 
wot of. 
One thing I would like to point out W 
regard to the schnapper, and it applies to 
ground-feeding fish: The species is broken 
into numerous families; that is, although ne< 
sity may at times compel, and does compel tl 
to act in accord, yet shoals or families may, 
do, act independently. I am sure that in 
season along the Victorian coast there may 
fifty or more shoals of schnapper acting it 
pendently, and it may be that in using the w 
family, I am correctly describing, as all ma; 
distinctly related. To illustrate: I was 0 
watching a small shoal of bream swimming 
