Page:Memoirs of the Queensland Museum Vol VI.djvu/127

 Australian from the Atlantic fish giving to the former the name of S. antarctica, by which it is generally known at the present time, but it must be confessed that he does not give any very convincing reasons for his action. His decision was based on a single large specimen, fifty-seven inches long, captured in Bass Strait, where, he says, it seems to be an accidental visitor, appears exclusively in the colder months, and only of a very large size. Subsequently, influenced by McCoy, he reverts to the name .S'. aquila, and states that, during a six years' residence in ilelbourne, he had only seen two examples, "both of enormous size, weighing about eighty pounds" apiece. And just here we come upon the first of the fascinating mysteries, which enshroiid the historj' of the jewfishes in these waters; the others will disclose themselves in due course. In his paper last referi'ed to Castelnau, writing in 1878 of a recent visit to Brisbane, states that he "was astonished to find that a Scuena was amongst the most conuiion fishes of Moreton Bay, and is considered the best edible fish of the country. It is called Dewfish, because of its beautiful silvery gray colour"; and further on he writes "It attains the weight of fifty pounds. During my staj' in the months of Jiuie and July, numerous specimens of all sizes were caught every day; the great majority were of a foot long or even less." My first impression, on reading these lines, was that Castelnau, like so many others after him, had confounded the little Brisbane River "perch" {S. australis) with the young of the true jewfish, but after intimate conversations with several old Brisbane anglers with thirty to forty years' experience of the river, I am convinced that by so doing I would have made a serious mistake and that the small fishes, to which Castelnau refers, were in very truth the young of the large jewfish. Regarding this Mr. J. Trevethan, who is suj^ported by all the older angling identities, kindly writes to me as follows; — "On the first appearance of these fishes in the upper reaches they were of from one pound to six pounds in weight, and were to be caught in such large numbers that one could hardly get rid of them, even as gifts to friends, so common were they. I have known as many as sixty or seventy of these fishes to be creeled by a single angler in a very short space of time, by which you may judge what jewfishing was like in those days. Later on a second run of these fishes commenced, those composing it being of a much larger size, varying in weight from ten to over fifty lb." The largest jewfish Mr. Trevethan was at the catching of weighed fift.v-seven lb. after it had been cleaned. As a further instance of their abundance before the great fiood of 1893 he states that "even the prawners used to catch them in their nets up to thirty lb. weight, and were glad to get rid of them for a couple of shillings after carrying them from one restaurant to another before they could get a purchaser."

Uses:— As a foodfish this species is of considerable importance, although there is at present no regular fishery for it, most of those which appear in our shops being taken by hook. Up to 25 lb. weight it is an excellent table fish, but beyond that it becomes coarse and somewhat rank. However, as it