barber

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

or Tasmanian Barber


n. a namefor the fish Anthias rasor, Richards., family Percidae; also called Red-Perch. See Perch. It occurs in Tasmania, New Zealand, and PortJackson. It is called Barber from the shape of the praeoperculum, one of the bones of the head. See quotation.

1841. John Richardson, `Description of Australian Fish,' p. 73:

« Serranus Rasor. – – Tasmanian Barber. . . . Theserrature of the preoperculum is the most obvious and generalcharacter by which the very numerous Serrani are connected witheach other . . . The Van Diemen's Land fish, which is describedbelow, is one of the `Barbers,' a fact which the specificappellation rasor is intended to indicate; the moreclassical word having been previously appropriated to anotherspecies. . . Mr. Lempriere states that it is known locally asthe `red perch or shad.'»

[Richardson also says that Cuvier founded a subdivision of the Serrani on the characters of the scales of the jaws,under the name of `les Barbiers,' which had been previouslygrouped by Block under the title Anthias.]

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

← tasmanian barber   ×   barcoo-grass →

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