MARINE NATURE NOTES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22836, 21 March 1936, Page 5

MARINE NATURE NOTES

Written for the Otago Daily Times. By David H. Graham, F.R.M.S., F.Z.S. RARE FISH FROM CORRESPONDENTS. One of the most beautiful fish ever sent to ine for identification was caught by Mr James Smith, of Port Chalmers. It is known as the golden snapper. It was hooked at the North Reef in 100 fathoms. The principal colour is a most beautiful pink, and there are silver stripes on the body and edges of the gill covers. This fish has a very short .snout and except for the brilliant colouring might easily be mistaken for a snapper. It was 15 inches in length, and it was not known previously south of Cape Campbell (Cook Strait). It is not uncommon, however, at the Great Barrier and Bay of Islands, North Auckland, and is abundant off the coast of New South Wales, where it is often taken on lines around the rocky reefs. The maximum size in Australia appears to be barely 24 inches. One of the striking features of this pretty fish is its very large and well-developed eyes, this being a common occurrence in fishes living down to a depth of 100 200 fathom mark, so different from the flathead which has small eyes and lives in Hie shallowest of water in our harbours. In Australia the golden snapper is known as " nannygai." It is first fished for with ordinary snapper bait, at the North Head of Sydney, in the month of October. Wherever it is caught by commercial or sport fishermen, great caution has to be used in approaching the grounds so that the launch or boat is not driven or pulled too noisily over the reef or rocks where it congregates at-, it is easily alarmed and has been known not to take a bait for a whole day after being disturbed; otherwise it takes bait freely. New Zealand and Australian fishermen find that the golden snapper does not bite during the winter months and is usually found about reefs only from October onwards. It is to be judged from the numbers caught in those localities where golden snapper live that they probably come in considerable shoals, and, although I know them at Russell, I was not able to determine whether they were migratory fish in the true sense of the term, visiting temperate parts in the summer and moving in winter to warmer latitudes, or whether their appearance in the warmer weather was, as in the case of many of our fishes, a movement from deep water to rocky reefs near land. As an edible fish the golden snapper ranks high in favour. It cannot, however, be depended on either in Australia or New Zealand, and fishermen do not specially seek it. Fishermen from North Auckland state that when slightly cured and smoked it is a great delicacy. There are four species known from New Zealand to Maderia and Japan, one of which has not only the same vivid pink ground colour, but has various opalescent tints, chiefly reflections of blue and lilac. A new record of a live specimen wan that of a fish received from Mr George Tulloch which was caught while trawling off Otago Heads and known as "sandpaper" fish. It has this name on account of the sandpaper feeling of the skin. The writer found a dead specimen cast ashore at Portobello after a gale in June, 1931. The only other records of these fish have been obtained after gales when the water has become exceptionally dirty. In the Otago Museum there are a stuffed specimen and one in spirits. This curious fish is seven inches in length, and is known in Australia as "Roughy." It inhabits rocky bottoms, where It Is captured either by hook and line or by means of the trammel net. It appears to have a habit of entering lobster pots in New South Wales, and is sometimes caught inside while the pot is hauled to the surface. The specimen caught off Otago Heads was, according to Mr Tulloch, a brilliant crimson colour, but this soon faded in the atmosphere. Like the golden snapper, the eyeß are large to enable it to see well in the deep water it usually frequents and where the light is known to be reduced to a kind of twilight. After being exposed to the atmosphere for . «om® hours the colours had faded considerably, and the fish was then a deep reddish brown, the fins being yellow and black. After being in spirits the colours still faded to a greyish-yellow. All the teeth on both jaws and palate are exceedingly small. Strangely enough, there are two spines on the snout, both of which are directed forward. The origin and use of these spines are somewhat obscure. No doubt they would provide formidable weapons of defence, especially if associated with poison glands, as in some species of fish. They certainly afford a means of protection from being eaten, head on at least, by their enemies. Another fish sent to the writer was a specimen so rare to New Zealand that it has no common name. It is known to science as Pseudopentaceros richardsonii, In size and shape it somewhat resembles a moki and is not unlike the blackfish of Australia. Mr J. Ballard, to whom I am indebted for this specimen, states he bought it amongst a case of other fish and noticed it was quite different to any fish he had seen. It was caught off the Otago Heads by fishermen trawling for moki. This is the second specimen caught in Otago waters and sent to the writer. It measured 21 inches and weighed 441 b. The previous one, caught by Mr J. Lyons in a sot net at Harrington Point, measured 16 inches and weighed cipal habitat appears to be Kerguelen and Campbell Islands, so that we have in this article mention of fish that have drifted from both northern and southern latitudes to Otago waters, providing a quite interesting line of thought as to possible movements of fish. This fish can easily be distinguished from the moki, in that it bears numerous well-defined dark markings which have a tendency to form rather irregular rings, like the rings of a tree, but are differently arranged on each side of the lish. The spines of both the back, the anal and the ventral fins are almost Mack. The most peculiar feature of this lish is that instead of the black and ventral edges being tapered to the tail as in the moki, the anal fin (near the tail) and the second dorsal tin (also nearest to the tail on the back) are carried on protuberances higher than the edges of the fish. This gives the animal an" appearance as though those parts had been squashed from the body.