All these fishes are small, rarely exceeding 10 inches in length. Very little is known regarding their habits or distribution and they are not at present of much economic importance.
I have taken a few in a trawl near Penang and there is a possibility that with new methods of fishing they may become useful market fish.
Red Mullet are known to visit the British coasts, in vast shoals, at rare intervals.
BAT-FISHES.
(SCORPIDIDAE.)
As far as I know, these fish are represented in our waters by the genus Psettus only.
The Gědabang or Nyior-nyior (P. argenteus) is known in Australia as the Silvery Bat-fish. It attains a length of about eight or nine inches only and its breadth is about equal to its length. It is common and of fairly good edible quality but is not, at present, of importance.
The Nyior-nyior (P. falciformis) is also a small fish attaining a length of perhaps 9 or 10 inches.
CORAL FISHES.
(CHAETODONTIDAE.)
A large group of about 200 species of marine carnivorous fishes, confined to the Tropics, mostly of small size and remarkable for their singular forms and markings and brilliant colours.
They are particularly abundant about volcanic rocks and coral reefs; but some ascend estuaries and tidal rivers, though not to any great distance.
The Ketang (Ephippus argus) ranges from the Indian Ocean to China and Australia, attaining a foot in length. If taken in the sea or in clean back-waters it is an excellent edible fish, but those captured in the vicinity of polluted rivers should be avoided, as there is evidence that they are foul feeders.
Hamilton Buchanan remarks of it, "When newly caught it is a fish of great beauty, easy digestion, and excellent flavour: but after death it soon becomes soft and strong tasting." In Ceylon "It is generally esteemed, its flesh partaking the flavour of trout" (Bennett).
This fish and its congener (E. multifasciatus) are favourably known in Australia as Butter-fish and are a common table fish in hotels and restaurants.
Ikan inggu or Ikan babi are Malay equivalents for the genus Holacanthus. The former term applying to the colouration and the latter to the rather pig-like profile and the presence, in all these fishes, of a pair of pre-opercular spines directed backwards, which are considered to resemble boar's tusks.
