Excerpt from Edible Fishes and Crustacean of New South Wales

The present volume must not be considered otherwise than as an instalment of a much larger and more important work, which it is intended shall include within its scope the entire fishing industries of the Colony, and which it is hoped will be completed within a few years.

For the proper production of a work, dealing exhaustively with the edible fishes of New South Wales, a much longer time would be necessary than was available for the preparation of this volume; and that for several reasons, the chief of which are, that the number of species to be included under that category would have to be raised from 93 as here described to about double that number, and that-the life history of almost every species and the distribution of many would have to be worked out by personal observation, which would necessitate a considerable amount of both coastal and inland travel.

The almost total want of reliable evidence on this latter subject, and the apathy and ignorance of those who are brought in daily contact with our food fishes, as forming their means of livelihood, has greatly impeded the author in his endeavor to place before the public as full an account as possible of all such points in connection with the habits of the selected species as would be interesting and useful, and in none has so much difficulty been experienced in obtaining information as in that which concerns the most important function of their lives - the continuation of their species. 80 little interest has been taken in this subject by those whose means of livelihood depend so closely on it, that there are but few, even of our most abundant fishes, of which the date of spawning is known, while as for the more difficult questions, such as the localities where the ova are deposited, the attachment to foreign substances or the flotation of the ova, and the length of time which elapses before the young fish emerges therefrom, absolutely nothing 'is known.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.