"There are five or six different species.
"The most common species is possibly Atherina temmincki (Bleeker).
"They are known as 'pescados del rey' or fishes of the king, among the Spaniards.
"They are greatly valued as food. The young are termed white bait. The method of catching is usually by seine or corral. A profitable industry could be built up by preparing these fish in a good sauce, by pickling them with spices, or by drying. They abound at all seasons."
GREY MULLETS.
(MUGILIDAE.)
The Grey Mullet are a widely distributed and very important family. They inhabit shallow water in the seas, estuaries and rivers and none are known to occur in very deep water. Their habit of keeping to the shallows, in large shoals, renders their capture, in enclosures, which dry out at low tide, and in mullet nets, an easy matter. As there are no restrictions as to size and no close season, mullet are getting scarcer every year in Malayan waters. Grey Mullet feed, more or less, on the organic matter found in mud and they are peculiar among fish in that they have a true gizzard, lined with a thick horny epithelium. Mullet are very common and highly appreciated in Australia. Stead[1] writes:
"During a recent year in New South Wales alone 45,000 baskets of Mullet—principally Sea Mullet—were received for disposal at the various fish markets. The average basket of Mullet contains about 75 pounds weight; and, if we calculate the fish at an average of one pound weight each, we find that we have the imposing total of 3,375,000 individuals."
In New South Wales Mullet may only be netted at certain times and at certain places, and there is a legal limit as to size as with all valuable edible fish in that Colony.
The breeding season with most of our Mullet appears to be between November and February during the N. E. monsoon.
At this time I have seen the Anding in myriads in the surf, near the mouth of the Trengganu river and other rivers on the East coast. A quantity of yellowish foam and scum is brought down by the rivers which are usually in full spate in November and December, and this foam either contains food or provides a suitable shade and shelter for the ova of the Mullet which are, I believe, pelagic or floating eggs. A day of steady incessant tropical rain during the N. E. monsoon is the day above all others to which all
- ↑ Fishes of Australia.
