BIZARRE FISHES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19959, 30 May 1928, Page 13

BIZARRE FISHES.

RARE SPECIMENS CAPTURED. STRANGE TROPICAL CREATURE. VISITORS TO AUCKLAND WATERS. Some rare fish, hitherto undetected in New Zealand waters, and recently caught off the Auckland coasts, were introduced, and their habits explained, to an interested audience at the Auckland Institute last evening by Mr. L. T- Griffin, assistant-curator of the Auckland Museum. Mr. A. T. Pycroft presided. The most singular of these creatures was a striped angler, caught at Opua in the Bay of Islands. It is a small bizarre tropical fish, the first of its kind taken in New Zealand waters, its skin completely covered in prickles. The extraordinary feature about it is a small hooked spine at the top of its head. This vicious-looking weapon is used by the creature as a fishing-rod for spearing crabs and prawns to satiate its carnivorous appetite. The clever diminutive fisherman conceals itself in a bunch of seaweed and angles for its dinner with the efficient little rod which nature has furnished. This rod has a further remarkable attribute. It is capable of being depressed to protect it from danger and in this condition lies horizontally along the back of the fish, hidden from sight in a cavity made expressly for it. Strange in appearance, too, was a long sucker fish, which, so Mr. Griffin said, "travels over the different oceans without paying its fare." In other words, it sticks to the sides of marine creatures more robust and active than itself, such as sharks and turtles, by means of a laminated sucking disc and so travels the warm seas comfortably as a passenger. It is a very poor swimmer itself and is the first specimen discovered in New Zealand waters.

Beautiful in appearance, a new species of cling fish was'exhibited, showing the complicated cling-disc by means of which it fixes itself firmly to rocks. The little creatures, measuring jiu. to 3in. in length, inhabit tidal pools. A rare cloudy eel of a species not previously recorded in the Dominion was captured at Cape Brett last March. It possesses a very savage disposition, instanced by the fact that the specimen caught seized hold of a parrot fish in the bottom of the boat and died after a two hours' struggle still grasping the fish firmly in its jaws. Very good eating is the big warehou, a new species existing only in two places in the Bay of Plenty. It is usually found in association with hapuku and sometimes weighs as much as 251b. It is a fish known to the ancient Maoris, but was for long lost to pakeha knowledge nntil an enterprising Auckland fisherman located one of the feeding grounds in the Bay of Plenty. The trumpeter is not usually found in North Island waters, but a specimen exhibited was taken in the Bay of Plenty. It is generally considered to be one of our best table fishes. A bullseye, an Australian fish very rare-in New Zealand, was taken in a net at Kawau Island last March, probably v the first of its kind to be recorded in these waters. A specimen of a beautifully-coloured long roughy, netted at Kawau last March by Mr. IT. Buddie, of Auckland, and a ray's beam, the first of the species received at the Auckland Museum, were also mentioned.