UNUSUAL FISH

Hokitika Guardian, 30 August 1932, Page 3

UNUSUAL FISH

FINDS MADE AT WANGANUI.

secretßs of the' , ska

WANGANUI, August 27,

An old fisherman' nfiaf thfl mouth of file Vv apgauui Kiy'er stated u»at no fo.ver than 27 distinct speee s of fish unknown to the average fisherman have been found within the -rfi.er' mouth‘d itself, auu on the adjucvp* : sc* beaches, within the i-st- fifteen ye«.-.-- v Ope rare specmep was a eina.i e,: of John Dory, Which coked I.a© v .

crown with a little nose nnduta 1. . > Had been washed up after a terr b|e storm, and i' extremely rare. The on j other taken near .Sew Zealand w -s oh tained by the Ross. Expedition yea,:. ago, and it is liow in a British museum. A very rare .ittlei scarlet fish was picked up on the south side of the, river ’by a school hoy. Its scientific name hr cepola aorea, and i't 'is’ foreign to New Zealand. Another- specimen of the isaine species was 'nearly four feet, and is one of the only , four ever lound. The fisherman said that when lie was on th e . Castlecliff beach at daybreak some ten years ago a crowd of gu Iswas driving a shoal of fish- ashore. A big wave ran up the beach and left behind a long line of ‘'mall silvery fish. He spent hours searching for perfect specimens. He took them to an expert who identified them as apeh°vy. pilchards, epratts/ and garfish, none of which : fits been .secirop the beach before or since, A small Maori boy speao ,ngHoupderg. in the mud flats pe-ared a .rare (species of the star-gazer fani.ly, and recognising j,t as unusual he'sent it to a musefum.' : : ■ >■

Two 'little ,■ “iblennies” were actually paught on fishing ..lines last summer at the' Castlecliff wharf, and - another branch of the “blenpie” fatfyi.ly js sometimes found in rock pools orr Nukuma'ro beach, a few m'les up the coapt. Recently the largest specimen of an e'ephant fiph ever- seen on the beach was picked up near the'mouth of. the v.vsr. Unfortunately the gu'ls had torn : t >■> bad’y it was of ho use for' exhibition. , Last week a nine inches long, unknown' bo '-Wanganui fi hernicn, was found .three miles up the river. It was apparently beftfg chased by a bigr ger fish', and leaped e’ean out of . the w«tor bn to a bank. It was pic ted up by a- bey and wag ■ later identified as a whiptail, ~a rard doep water spec’-U'm.; PracticrTy all ,these -fish hav e b'en brought to the Alexander Museum in Wanganui, identified ■ and mounted. Wanganui Mumpm is fortnrfate•; In this respect; fill the Ash ’on exhibit "being genuine sb' l .;iihens.‘; 1 " ...