burramundi

or Barramunda

n. afresh-water fish, Osteoglossum leichhardtii, Guenth.,family Osteoglossidae, found in the Dawson and FitzroyRivers, Queensland. The name is also incorrectly applied bythe colonists to the large tidal perch of the Fitzroy River,Queensland, Lates calcarifer, Guenth., a widelydistributed fish in the East Indies, and to Ceratodusforsteri, Krefft, family Sirenidae, of the Mary andBurnett Rivers, Queensland. Burramundi is the aboriginal namefor O. leichhardtii. The spelling barramunda isdue to the influence of barracouta (q.v.). See Perch.

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,'vol. i. p. 189:

«There is a fish too at Rockhampton called the burra mundi, – – I hope I spell the name rightly, – – which is very commendable.»

1880. Guenther, `Study of Fishes,' p. 357:

« Ceratodus. . . . Two species, C. forsteri and C. miolepis, are known from fresh-waters ofQueensland. . . . Locally the settlers call it `flathead,'`Burnett or Dawson salmon,' and the aborigines `barramunda,' aname which they apply also to other largescaled fresh-waterfishes, as the Osteoglossum leichhardtii. . . . Thediscovery of Ceratodus does not date farther back thanthe year 1870.»

1882. W. Macleay, `Descriptive Catalogue of Australian fishes'('Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales,'vol. vi. p. 256):

« Osteoglossum leichhardtii, Gunth. Barramundi of theaborigines of the Dawson River.»

1892. Baldwin Spencer, `Proceedings of the Royal Societyof Victoria,' vol. iv. [Note on the habits of Ceratodusforsterii]

«It has two common names, one of which is the `Burnett Salmon'and the other the `Barramunda» . . . the latter name . . . isproperly applied to a very different form, a true teleosteanfish ( Osteoglossum leichhardtii) which isfound . . . further north . . . in the Dawson andFitzroy . . . Mr. Saville Kent states that the Ceratodus is muchprized as food. This is a mistake, for, as a matter of fact,it is only eaten by Chinese and those who can afford to getnothing better.»