A BIT FISHY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 687, 12 June 1929, Page 8

A BIT FISHY

To the Editor.

Sir. — I noted with much interest an account in Monday’s Sun of the discovery of an alleged Tunny fish, which had been stranded by the tide on Oreti Beach. Invercargill. For reference sake, I quote here extracts from the newspaper report:—

“It was in an excellent state of preservation, and had obviously been dead only a few hours. . . The discovery of one on Oreti Beach provides much food for speculation, though it may be that the specimen found was one that had played truant from its school, and inadvertently wandered In Southern Seas. ... Mr. I. S. Holder says in his well-known book, ‘They are the most erratic of fishes, coming and going without any set of rules. . . ”

Now, sir, I would like to relate a little experience of my own, which may or may not have some heaving on the ease mentioned. One evening many years ago I was walking along the sandhills of a certain beach on the West Coast, accompanied by my aunt, a Miss Martha Finchley, who was well known at the time as an ardent botanist and ichthyologist. We had not gone far when we encountered an old man, who was carrying some object in his hands, which, as he approached, proved to be a verycurious fish, the like of which neither my aunt nor myself had ever seen before. Naturally, we stopped the fellow, and inquired what it was he was carrying; but his reply. "I don’t really know,” seemed to infuriate my aunt, who was always intolerant of ignorance in any form.

She stood off to judge her length, then kicked the old man sprawling, and while I held him down, she thumped him until he confessed where he had obtained the specimen. It appeared that the fellow had found the fish stranded by the tide (curiously enough, in exactly the same circumstances that this recent Tunny was found!) We then left the churlish fellow, and took the fish home, where it provided food for speculation—and otherwise.

Now, sir, I am coming to my point. Some time later I was reading the famous book by Dr. Otto Blurge, the well-known Authority, when I came across a description of a remarkable fish found round the Wallapagos Islands, and of the native method ot capturing this piscatorial curiosity. .. "The natives,” writes Dr. Blurge, in his inimitable style, “call this fish the Tummy, or Tum-Tum, and regard its periodical appearance in their seas as a good omen, indicative of increased tourist traffic and decreased income tax. In fact, they have a proverb which runs this way: 'When the Tum-Tum arrives, the country turns the corner.’ That is as near a translation from the Wallapagian as I can give you. "Their method of fishing is as curious as it is effective. The natives, clad simply in their bjambas, riding in their gaily-painted 1 Vherries or Willies, paddle out to the fishing grounds and sprinkle pqtroiqk, a native form of snuff, on the water. "When the Tummies or Tum-Tums come up to sneez°they are deftly lassoed and hauled ashore. Their lamentations are pitiful to hear. They are landed atlid great excitement. The natives’ piercing cry of ‘lnyattullah Marambzgkq!’ (This may be roughly translated as ‘Whoops, dearie!’) as they capture each fish, can be heard for miles. . .

Now, sir, may not this alleged "Tunny,” which corresponds so closely in the manner of its finding with tha of the fish in tlie sandhills inciden already described, be a specimen ° the rare Tummy of the North, whicu perhaps may have wandered far from its school, possibly because it expelled? I wonder if any Soutnlanders heard lamentations or vigorou I offer my theory for what it may 1* worth —say five shillings.—Yours, etc., N.B.G. ["lnyattullah Marambzgkq.”—Ed. 1