Note on a Specimen of Orthagoriscus mola.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 29, 1896, Page 627

Papers.—1. Professor Parker gave an account of the leading structural peculiarities of a large sun-fish (Orthagoriscus mola) captured in the Upper Harbour in March last, and lately mounted for exhibition in the Museum. The specimen is 8ft. 6in. in length, 6ft. in height, and l1ft. from tip of dorsal to tip of ventral fin. It weighed 1 ½ tons. The anterior contour is characterized by a gently-curved projection above the mouth, from the dorsal end of which there is a backward slope to the middle line of the back. Below the mouth is a similar chin-like projection. Two strong, deep, horizontal ridges run along each side of the trunk, one above, the other below, the branchial aperture and pectoral fin. The brain and spinal cord were exhibited (together they are not more than 1 ½in. in length); also sections, in alcohol, of the skull and fin-rays, showing the very incomplete ossification of the cartilage. On the skin were found numerous specimens of the parasitic copepod Lepeophtheirus nordmanni. The intestine contained immense numbers of a species of Tænia, and a Distoma. 2. “Notes from Murihiku: being a Description of some Rock Pictographs on the Waitaki, and Notes on a Maori Kete containing Textile Fabrics and Materials,” by A. Hamilton, (Transactions, p. 169.)