Elephant Fish

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31384, 1 June 1967, Page 12

Elephant Fish

Sir,—l was most interested in your article on elephant fish, silver trumpeter or “Wonk”, as the foreign members of the fish trade used to cal! them. Would Mr Coakley entertain the idea that they have become scarcer since the disappearance of countless hundreds of acres of pipis from our beaches? I have seen hundreds of these fish abandoned on our beaches by surf trawling parties 30 years ago. I would agree that from a commercial point of view these fish return a high percentage of edible food, at a fantastic profit to fish-and-chip vendors. As for the food value, I have been informed that there is more food value in the water and flour batter than there is in the fish itself.—Yours, etc. PERCY L. McMILLAN. Saltwater creek. May 26, 1967. [The marine biologist of the Marine Department (Mr A. Coakley) replies: “Although the pipi beds may move from year to year, slight changes in this one food are not likely to affect the elephant fish seriously.

With regard to the food value of the fish, the flesh is equivalent in protein to mammal meat and so has high value for growth, although its carbohydrate or energy value is low when compared with batter, which is mainly carbohydrate.”]