No. 9.--LABRUS?--Native name, PARIL. "Common rock-fish of the sealers.
"Rays, D. 9-11; A. 2-11, etc."
Mouth furnished with small sharp teeth. Caught by hook, 12th March, 1841.
No. 37.--LABRUS?--Native name, PARIL, KUHOUL, or BOMBURN. "Black rock-fish" of the sealers. "Rays, D. 9-11; A. 3-10 seconds, etc."
Inhabits rocky sh.o.r.es, and grows to the size of fifteen or twenty pounds weight. Poor, soft eating. Speared by Warrawar, 12th May, 1841.
No. 7.--LABRUS?--Native name, POKONG. "Brown rock-fish" of the sealers.
"Rays, D. 9-12; A. 3-10," etc.
Flesh soft and poor. Inhabitants rocky sh.o.r.es; very common. Caught by hook, 12th March, 1841.
No. 18.--CRENILABRUS?--Native name, KNELMICH, MINAME, or MINAMEN. Common "rock-fish" or "Parrot" of the sealers. "Rays, D. 8-11; A. 2-10," etc.
Poor and soft. Inhabits bold rocky sh.o.r.es, where it is troublesome to the fisher by carrying off his bait. Caught by hook, 3rd May, 1841.
No. 12.--LABRUS?--Native name IANON"T, WOROGUT, or c.u.mBEAK. "Rays, D. 30; A. 12." Tail rounded, teeth very small.
Inhabits weedy places in deep water, and along sandy bays. Sometimes taken by the natives on the edge of banks. Excellent eating. Caught by hook, 18th March, 1841.
No. 30.--COSSYPHUS? CRENILABRUS?--Native name MOOLET or CHETON.
"Red rock-fish" of the settlers. "Rays, D. 11-10; A. 3-11; P. 15."
etc.--Teeth very strong; tail rounded; its rays oblong.
Inhabits rocky sh.o.r.es. Bites eagerly, and is a gross feeder. Indifferent eating. Caught by hook, 6th April, 1841.
No. 35.------? Genus not ascertained.--Native name KOOGENUCK, QUEJUIMUCK, or KNOWL. Little known to the sealers. "Rays, 11-12; A. 2 or 3; P. 16 or 18." Dorsal spines remarkable; scales large; grows to a large size; the flank scales of one weighing twenty-eight pounds, measure an inch and a half in length, and an inch and a quarter in breadth. (They are cycloid.--J. R.)
Inhabits rocky sh.o.r.es. The specimen was speared by Warrawar, 12th May, 1841.
CYPRINIDAE.
No. 5.--RYNCHANA GREYI. Richardson, Ichth. of Voy. of Erebus and Terror, p. 44 pl. 29. f. 1. 6.--Native name, PINING or WAUNUGUR, not certain. Not known to the sealers. Pupil like that of the shark elliptical, with the long axis vertical.
When the skin was removed the flesh was very fat, resembling that of the eel, had an unpleasant smell, and could not be eaten. The natives also were averse to eating it, and only one man acknowledged to have seen it before. Caught by seine, by Corporal Emms of the 51st regiment, 7th April, 1841. (This fish is also an inhabitant of Queen Charlotte"s Sound, New Zealand.--J. R.)
SALMONIDAE.
No. 48.--AULOPUS PURPURISSATUS. Richardson, Icones Piscium, p. 6, pl. 2, f. 3.--Native name, KARDAR. "Rays, D. 19; A. 14; V. 9; P. 10."
Very rare. Caught by hook, on a rocky sh.o.r.e, by Mr. Sholl of Albany, 14th July, 1841. (Mr. Niell"s figure differs slightly from that of Lieutenant Emery, published in the ICONES PISCIUM above quoted, and chiefly in the dorsal occupying rather more s.p.a.ce, by commencing before the ventrals, and extending back to opposite the beginning of the a.n.a.l. The a.n.u.s is under the fourteenth dorsal ray. Mr. Niell"s drawing also shews a series of six large roseate spots on the sides below the lateral line, and a more depressed head, with a prominent arch at the orbit.--J. R.)
ESOCIDAE.
No. 22.--HEMIRAMPHUS.--Native name, IIMEN. "Guardfish" of the settlers.
"Rays, D. 16, delicate black rays; A. 15, do; P. 12; V. 6." Lower jaw equal to the head in length. Caught by the seine, 3rd March, 1841.
Inhabits sandy bays, but approaches the sh.o.r.e only in summer. It is very delicate eating.
MURAENIDAE.
No. 52.--MURAENA? vel SPHAGEBRANCHUS.--Native name KALET. The eel figure, nat. size. Dorsal fin continuous for about three and a half inches behind the snout to the point of the tail: its rays very delicate; a.n.a.l like the dorsal, but commencing behind the vent. One small lobe in the gills, about the size of a pin"s head; no other perceptible opening.
Caught at the mouth of Oyster Harbour, 16th August, 1841.
LOPHOBRANCHI.
No. 56.--OSTRACIAN FLAVIGASTER, Gray. Richardson, Zool. Trans. 3. p. 164, p. 11, f. 1.--Native name, CONDE or KOODE. "Rays, D. 10; A. 9; P. 11, etc."
This fish is not eaten by the natives, who abhor it. It is seen only in the summer, and in shallow sandy bays, Caught in a net in October, 1841.
No 51.--MONACANTHUS.--Native name, TABADUCK. Rays, D. 28; A. 26; P. 12; C. 12.
Very rare, scarcely ever seen by the Aborigines. Caught by hook, August, 1841.
No. 49.--MONACANTHUS.--Not known to the Aborigines. Rays, D. 32; A. 30; C. 12; P. 11. Eye yellow; dorsal spine short.
Taken in deep water by Mr. Johnson, off the Commissariat stores, near a sunken rock, in deep water.
No. 15.--MONACANTHUS.--Native name, CAUDIEY. "Small leather-jacket" of the sealers.
Inhabits deep water, with a rocky bottom; is good to eat. Caught by a net, 18th March, 1841. Dorsal spine toothed behind.
No. 31.--MONACANTHUS, or (ALEUTERES, no spinous point of the pelvis visible in figure.--J. R.)--Native name, TABEDUCK. The "yellow leather-jacket" of the sealers. Dorsal spine toothed. D. 33; A. 32; P.
13. Caudal rounded, its rays very strong.
Inhabits deep water in rocky places, and is very common. It is esteemed for food by the Aborigines; is much infested by an Isopode named NETTONG, or TOORT, by the natives. This insect inserts its whole body into a pocket by the side of the a.n.u.s, separated from the gut by a thin membrane. The fish to which the insect adheres are yellow; those which are free from it are of a beautiful purple colour. Caught by hook, 12th May, 1841.
CARCHARIDAE.
No. 54.--CARCHARIAS (PRIONODON) MELANOPTERUS, Muller and Henle.--Native name, MATCHET. "Common blue shark" of the settlers. Specimen four feet and a half long; have been seen longer. A female had four young alive when taken. Spiracles behind the eyes. Caught by hook, 16th August, 1841.
No. 26--CESTRACION PHILIPPI, Mull. and Henle.--Native names, MATCHET, KORLUCK, or QUORLUCK. "Bull-dog-shark" of the sealers. Specimen two feet and a half long.
Inhabits rocky sh.o.r.es, and is very sluggish; it does not grow to a very large size. Caught by hook, 6th April, 1841.
TRYGONES.
No. 38.--UROLOPHUS.--Native name, KEGETUCK or BEBIL. "Young sting-ray" of the sealers. Caught by seine, 4th May, 1841.