Porae

Description

The porae (Nemadactylus douglasii), the grey morwong, blue morwong, butterfish, Douglas' morwong, Eastern blue morwong, great perch, queen snapper, rubberlip morwong or silver morwong, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, traditionally regarded as belonging to the family Cheilodactylidae, the members of which are commonly known as morwongs. found around south eastern Australia and the north eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand at depths of about 10 to 100 metres, on sandy and rocky coasts. The porae has a body which is compressed and moderately short and deep, its depth being around two fifths of its standard length, with a very thin caudal peduncle. It has a moderately sized head which has a shallow dorsal profile and there is a small over the eyes in adults. There are no bony protuberances on the snout or to the front of the moderately sized eyes. It has a small mouth, which does not extend as far as the eyes, with thick and fleshy lips. The teeth are small and pointed and arranged in a single row in each jaw and they are embedded in the lips. There is a patch of smaller teeth to the rear of the main row in the front of the upper jaw. The dorsal fin is continuous, with a long base and only slight demarcation between the spiny part and the soft rayed part which are both of similar length. The spiny part is tallest at the front and decreases in height to the rear while the soft rayed part is of a uniform low height. The anal fin is similar in shape but slightly shorter than soft rayed part of the dorsal fin. The caudal fin is forked with the tips of both lobes bluntly pointed. The pectoral fins are of moderate size with its upper rays branched and its lower rays simple and robust with uppermost of these rays being highly elongated, extending almost to the middle of the anal fin. The pelvic fins are small and are placed obviously under and to the rear of the origin of the pectoral fins. The spiny part of the dorsal fin contains 17-18 spines while the soft rayed part holds 27-28 fin rays, the anal fin has 3 spines and 16-17 soft rays. This species attains a maximum fork length of 81 cm (32 in) and a maximum published weight of 4.0 kg (8.8 lb). The overall colour is silvery, tinged with greenish-blue. or occasionally yellowish dorsally, paler silvery on the lower body. The fins may show a bluish tinge. The juveniles have a dark blotch just below middle of the lateral line, this fades as the fish grows.