|
(Click for large pic. 38Kb)
The Saratoga or Dawson River Salmon is a very primitive herring-like fish whose history can be traced some forty million years through the fossil record to the Eocene. The species is taken in the upper freshwater reaches of Queensland coastal streams as far north as the Burdekin River; it is a very common fish in the Dawson and the tributaries of its headwaters. The body is dark olive-green above, shading to silvery below; each scale on the sides of the body has one, two, or three bright-red to orange-red spots. The tail may be streaked with orange. The protruding upwardly-inclined lower jaw has two short barbels. The Saratoga feeds on small fish (especially Bony Bream), crayfish, frogs, prawns, etc.
It is a spectacular sport-fish. Frequently a small shoal of four to six fish may be sighted swimming at the surface; a bait or plug can be cast at the desired fish, and a fraction of a second later he may have smashed at the lure, flung himself clear of the water, and cast the hook - for in this primitive fish the palate consists of a smooth bony plate. It grows to 900 mm; smaller examples to about 380 mm in length are quite good eating, but larger fish tend to become coarse-textured and flavourless.
The origin of the name "Saratoga" appears connected with the fact that an Aboriginal name for any large scaled fish was "Burumunda", which later became "Barramunda", and then "Barramundi". There were at least three "Burumunda": the Saratoga or Dawson River Salmon (above); the Barramundi Lates calcarifer (Bloch); and the Lungfish or Burnett River Salmon Neoceratodus forsteri (Gunther).
The early settlers seemed to refer to the Lungfish as such, or as the Ceratodus. If stress is placed on the penultimate syllable, a "Cer-a-TOH-dus" might become a "Sar-a-TOH-ga". Then, in southern Queensland, one of the Burumunda became the Lungfish, leaving the name "Saratoga" available for the other big fish of the region - in this case, the Dawson River Salmon.
Season:
|
)
