Rambles on the Golden Coast of New Zealand/Chapter 20
WEST COAST FISH.
CHAPTER XX.
AVING written so much upon the mineral and vegetable wealth of the “Golden Coast,” my readers may not deem it irrelevant to speak of the tenants of the waters, both of the sea and inland lakes and rivers. The sea, bounding our strip of land for two hundred and twenty miles, together with our lakes and rivers, contain a wonderful supply of fish, both “materialistic” and “kalizoic.” The “materialistic” fish represent edible varieties of good qualities and quantities, from the extreme 120 lbs. weight of the habuka or groper—a giant perch—to the minute but delicate whitebait, which singly weighs but a fraction of an ounce, though collectively it exemplifies the old adage “Union is strength.” These little fish are caught and sold by the pint, peck, or bushel, and have become a food factor in their season (from August to November), as well as a means of livelihood to numbers of the almond-eyed sons of the Celestial Empire. Besides supplying the inhabitants of the towns with the delicacy, they dry and export them to China. There the dried commodity must obtain a high price, equal probably to the famed gelatinous “birds’ nests,” as the price paid by the Victorian Chinese middlemen is said to be 2s. 6d. per lb.
Flounders, of various varieties, inhabiting fresh, brackish, and salt waters, all of good quality, and nearly allied to the English turbot; a species of sole, larger than the English one; the trumpeter, a fish of excellent repute throughout the Australian Colonies; moki and parihiki, bream-shaped fish of good flavour; two or three varieties of cod fish; a species of ling; the well-known schnapper and barracouta; a species of sardine; a true herring, very like the Home herring, but not equal in flavour, and a score of others, abound in these waters.
The “materialistic” fish of the fresh waters are few; the greyling, a fish good for the table, affording sport akin to roach fishing, and reaching a maximum weight of 3 lbs., being the best. The lakes, rivers, creeks, and pools teem with eels, some of incredible size and weight.
The “kalizoic” fish embrace varieties rare, unique, and grotesque, and many of excessively beautiful colouring. Amongst the kalizoic division are two of the deep-sea light-giving fish, a kindred variety of which is being experimented on in Europe at the present time by a scientist, who expects to develop from them the light of the future. This light is given in phosphorescent sparkles from the little head-like processes along the lower sides of each. Another species of the renowned “frost fish,” but unlike the ordinary frost fish, it is of much greater length in proportion to depth. It well deserves its proper cognomen of the scabbard fish, its silver skin adding to the resemblance. Another fish with formidable spines on its shoulders is the “bull,” or “tide fish,” as it is called in one of the other Colonies, where its spines, and the poisonous wounds it inflicts, are looked upon by most of the fisher folk with dread and superstition. There is also a small variety of rare ocean fish, very high and thin, with quite a superabundance of fins. Its colour is bright metallic silver, fins vivid scarlet; its congeners grow to a length of 16 or 17 ft., depth 18 to 20 inches, and thickness of 1 to 2 inches only. Another which should specially be mentioned is the particular form of “angler fish,” as it is the first and only specimen noted as obtained in the world, having been washed up on our beach after a severe storm. It is provided with rod, lines, and lures, and a capacious “creel” for its victims.
A peculiar fresh-water fish which has attracted attention amongst savans and others is the “West Coast mud fish,” a fish which was once supposed to take to and reside in the mud from choice. It has often been excavated from considerable depths in the clayey soil. Its living interment is usually from necessity. As the waters dry up it is forced to wriggle into the mud, at the bottom or sides of the swampy pools it inhabits. In some instances it has been known to follow down the moisture in holes left by decaying roots, and get a considerable depth underground. When the surface of the ground has been perfectly dry, and the whole cleared and improved, the discovery of a healthy living fish, 5 or 6 ft. under dry solid ground, has been made, and has been looked upon by the spectator, at first sight, as truly miraculous. Its usual habitat is the pools and small creeks in swampy grounds, where it remains, freely swimming, nearly all the year round, reproducing from ova, as with most fish, in September or October, and the young fry, half an inch in length, can be obtained in January.
M‘Farlane & Erskine, Printers, Edinburgh.