Rubberlip Morwong. I hadn’t been searching for something to call the guy who cut me off in the traffic circle, but now, turning the name this way and that, I reckon I’ve found a useful epithet. Or a descriptor for the sales clerk unable to hide his distain for my simple, albeit American, request. I could imagine applying it to a recalcitrant supplier or a particularly dull client. Rubberlip Morwong. Perfect.
Rubberlip Morwong. Just the syllables have a ring to them. Even just plain Morwong has its epithetical possibilities.
It turns out that the Rubberlip Morwong has a serious side. They don’t all do a tap routine along the bar at happy hour. No, undersized RM’s have been seized at the Sydney Fish Markets in a recent raid. Underaged drinking at the umbrellaed tables, hiding out from demanding and marauding gulls? After-hours dance club and bar at the Fish Market? All possible, in my world.
The fish seized at the Sydney Fish Markets were under the 30 cm (11 in.) limit. Harvesting undersized fish limits future breeders and quickly reduces fisheries in the name of greed. What morwongs would do such a short-sighted thing!
Grey Morwongs, commonly called Rubberlip Morwongs, are in a class of white-fleshed fish like snapper and cod. Their typical length is around 80 cm (2.5 ft) and weigh in at 4 kg (9 lbs). Night feeders on crustaceans and invertebrates, morwongs inhabit the southern Australian continental shelf from Brisbane on the east coast around the southern edge to Perth on the west, around the island of Tasmania and in the waters off New Zealand.
Whence the seized? They were donated to OzHarvest, an organization that collects unused food to distribute to charities. There. Profit on the undersized denied, but the resource utilized at the same time.
When I looked Rubberlip Morwongs up on the web, I found that the common name is now Grey Morwong. I had to ask myself, is “rubberlip” a vestige of an earlier era, on in which derogatory names were commonly applied and used with impunity? Would I be violating a PC code of some sort if I used the morwong’s common name? I easily and unknowingly trip over Aussie-isms and have been alternately encouraged and chastised by different groups of friends over the same words. Still, I like the Rubberlip Morwong’s name. You could affectionally call your best friend a morwong, or perhaps even “Rubberlip.” Versatile, effective.
Just having Rubberlip Morwong tucked in my back pocket, waiting for the perfect opportunity to employ its awesome weaponry, is good enough for me.
More info on Rubberlip Morwongs, now also referred to as the Grey Morwong? http://www.sea-ex.com/fishphotos/morwong.htm. or http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recreational/saltwater/sw-species/rubber-lip-or-grey-morwong
Note: I was first introduced to the amazing Rubberlip Morwong in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday, March 12, 2010, titled “Market Raid Nets Undersized Catch” by Jessica Mahar.
From Inside the Kangaroo's Pouch 