James Glass Bertram

“ Although we are yet but groping, as it were, in the rudiments of sea-science, a time is rapidly approaching when we may hope to have the wonders of the deep revealed to us, of which we are now ignorant, so that we may know much more accurately than we do now the conditions which regulate the vast stores of food-wealth that lie at our command when we choose to do business in the great deep. ”

“ The upper ponds must be used for breeding the fish—that is, as nurseries for the young, from which, in due time, to supply the larger water. Of the fry, a fair allowance will be twenty-five to the square rood, and the largest of these should be let out in the course of two years, and their places supplied by others. In due time the new-made ponds will be filled with breeding-fish, and the best way, then, is to let nature have full swing; for if food, either natural or artificial, be not abundant, the supply will become self-regulating. ”

“ The young crab in its earlier stages was gravely described by various naturalists as a distinct animal. Naturalists are so ignorant of how the work of growth is carried on in the fish world—in fact, it is so difficult to investigate points of natural history in the depths of the sea—that we cannot wonder at less being known about marine animals than about any other class of living things. Pisciculture has settled the parr controversy, and to the system of artificial cultivation we must look ultimately for the solution of others of our fish mysteries. ”

“ There is, as yet, no place in this country of the nature of a breeding pond, where the natural history of this fish can be properly studied. There are ponds for storing lobsters at Southampton, and there is a store-pond for white-fish in Scotland; but we know of no breeding-ponds either for eels or cod-fish, hence much of our ignorance about their powers of growth and productiveness. We have also a pond on the river Tay, in Scotland, which has been of use in determining questions connected with the growth of salmon, and likewise of adding to the value of the river ”

“ The myriads of young eels which ascend would almost transcend belief; they are in number sufficient for the re-population of all the waters of the earth, if there were protective laws to shield them from destruction, or reservoirs in which they might be preserved to be used for food as required. The inhabitants of Comaccio, seeing the advantages which would result from a systematic cultivation of the young fish, set about constructing throughout the lagoon a series of canals and reservoirs in order to aid them in securing the eels at the time of their ascent from the Adriatic. ”

“ The kinds of eggs most in demand are those of the Ombre Chevalier, the Danube and Rhine salmon. Many of the eggs are procured at a considerable cost; it is calculated, for instance, that the eggs of the chevalier cost one penny each. The Danube salmon is an easily-reared fish; it is very prolific, yielding a large number of eggs, and it grows to an immense size. The general cost of fish-breeding is at the rate of twelve eggs for a penny; in China, so great a proficiency has been arrived at in artificial breeding, that twenty pounds of wholesome fish may be obtained for the sum of fourpence! ”

“ Great care ought to be taken in their formation, as the fish readily take on a foreign flavour, and some discretion in filling the pond when it is made is necessary. Perch, carp, trout, and bream are the best fish to breed. Of course, a pond ought not to be overstocked; the feeding-ground being limited, only a certain number of fish will profitably thrive in it. The most suitable size of water for a pond is about three acres, and ponds are best adapted for breeding and fattening in suits of three—the water being made to flow from one to the other. ”

“ We know the kind of worms that our butterflies grow from, and most people are convinced that these crawling animals do get themselves changed into winged insects, and flutter out a brief life in the sunbeams; but the rule of belief in the changes of marine animals seems to be different, and so we have still people who cannot believe that a parr will some day become a salmon, or that the zoea will assuredly change into the highest order of crustacean life. ”

“ We are always hearing of the scarcity of mussels for bait, and that fishermen have to go far and pay dear for that particular shell-fish, which is largely used on the lines set for cod and haddocks. Well, what we want to teach our coast-folk is, that they should grow their own bait and be independent of their neighbours. It is quite possible for each fishing community to have both its oyster and mussel-farm. ”

“ It is a curious feature of fish-life that about the period when eels are on their way to the sea, where they find a suitable spawning-ground, salmon are on their way from the sea up to the river-heads to fulfil the grand instinct of their nature ”

“ As to how many fish a given extent of water will support, there are many different opinions. Much, undoubtedly, will depend on the soil which surrounds the ponds, whether or not it yields a supply of food of any kind, and also on the stream employed to supply the water. The flavour of a fish, we may say, depends entirely on the kind of food it obtains; and when more fishes are placed in a piece of water than there is food for, they will either equalise the supply by turning cannibals, or remain lank and flavourless. ”

“ They breed and grow all along our coasts, all the year round, as do most kinds of British fish and Crustacea. We have seen the herring in all its stages of growth, from the minute ova to the sizeable summer fish. A jar with herrings newly hatched was lately in our possession, the young fish swimming about like bits of feather or cotton thread, but it is impossible to keep them alive for any length of time, they are so fragile. It would be interesting, however, if herrings could be grown from the egg in presence of our naturalists, as indeed it would be in the case of all other kinds of fish ”

“ As the eels are caught they are transferred to the great cooking houses, where they are at once prepared for the spit—all, or most of the fish taken at Comaccio being sold in a ready-cooked state. To admit of this there is an immense series of kitchens, with gigantic fires, where the best of the eels are roasted, the smaller kind being fried in the fat of those which have been put on the spit. Even the grease is of great value, and flows from the fireplace to appointed reservoirs in a little canal which has been constructed for the purpose. Some of the fish are cruelly roasted alive ”

“ The population of the Lagoon, or rather of its islands, amounts to 6661, and the whole of the inhabitants are connected with the fishery, or with the salt-manufactory, which is carried on for its benefit. The people are remarkably clannish, are devout Catholics, and, like most fisher-communities, hold little intercourse with the world beyond them. A great number of the men employed in the fishery live in a barrack, and dine at a common table, the staple of their food being a pound and a half of eels, or other fish, per diem. ”

“ The sharp winds of February must toss about the water, and the suns of March and April require to light up the river, before the eggs come to maturity, and the young fish bursts from its fragile prison. A very small number of salmon eggs are hatched, so that the quantity deposited is usually out of all proportion to the fish which are born; the percentage of loss being enormous. ”

“ It has already been shaped into a pertinent question, and “What is a sprat?” is ever and anon being asked by both the ignorant and the learned. Well, as in the case of the parr, and the two cases are very similar, there are people who believe a sprat to be just a sprat, and nothing more. But there are others, equally learned, who say that a sprat is a young herring. There has been some fighting over these two propositions—the sprat-and-nothing-but-a-sprat men assert that their fish is a totally distinct individual, and neither the son nor the daughter of old Clupea harengus. ”

“ There is a very ample supply of excellent water, which of course is the chief agent used in pisciculture; and behind the group of buildings we have mentioned, there is a suite of ponds and running streams devoted to the exhibition of the progressive stages of growth of the Rhine salmon, Ombre Chevalier, and various kinds of trout. As We have said, the collection of the eggs, and, in some cases, the spawning-fish gives employment to many of the fresh-water fishermen of Switzerland and Germany, who make a good deal of money at this picturesque occupation. ”

“ The spawned fish are as soon as possible returned to the river, when they dash away with apparent delight, agreeably relieved of what must have been a heavy burden; indeed, the spawn is a fourth part of the fish’s entire weight. ”

“ Thus, three ponds would be absolutely necessary in a perfect hatching establishment. A splendid salmon-river like the Severn might have its natural powers of production immensely aided by a series of ponds, where artificial spawning and protected breeding on a large scale could be carried on. One million of eggs could easily be hatched in a suite of breeding-boxes three times the size of those at Stormontfield; and were the ponds in proportion, and were there enough of them, a hatching might be effected annually with great ease, and much to the profit of all concerned. ”

“ It is likely, that in connection with the English salmon rivers, breeding-ponds will be erected on a large scale. The salmon being the king of fish, and of royal value, it will undoubtedly prove a profitable speculation to protect its spawn from injury, and its young from destruction. In the natural state, amazing quantities of fish-eggs are constantly destroyed, and countless thousands of the young fish are lost from want of protection—being devoured wholesale by their enemies. ”

“ The old adage, which holds good under so many varied circumstances, of truth being stranger than fiction, was never better exemplified than in the numerous controversies that have arisen about the growth of fish, and which have been carried on with great vigour by the learned in such matters. ”

“ Thus, in every fish-community, there are a few fat fellows who contrive to secure a very large share of the food. In the pond at Wolfsbrunnen the trout attain a considerable size, specimens of six and seven pounds in weight being very common. They are daily fed with small fishes, which are caught for that purpose in the Neckar. The pond is in charge of the landlord of the small inn adjacent, and is chiefly designed for the use of his customers, and not so much for the sale of the fish as an article of commerce. ”

“ However, as he used to say, “necessity is the mother of invention;” and from necessity he invented a plan of marking the fish, and in the country smithies he advertised his plan, described his marks, and offered handsome rewards, in the shape of gills of whisky, to all who would bring him the fish he had marked in their next stage of growth. By this plan he procured abundant proof of the correctness of his theory; but the naturalists were still sceptical. “No doubt,” said they, “this smelt is the young of the salmon, but then it is the young salmon you have marked, and not the true parr.” ”

“ The real truth, however, is, that no one knows where the salmon goes to when it reaches the sea;—whether it proceeds to a great distance, or finds a luxuriant feeding-ground in the nearest deep water, has never been properly ascertained, but that it grows rapidly under the influence of the brine is certain. ”

“ Perhaps, as we are now on the subject of crustacea, we may just remind the reader of the wonderful conditions of growth which are common to the greater number of our shell fish. Lobsters, crabs, shrimps, prawns, crayfish,—in fact, the crustaceans generally, have to change their shelly covering in order that they may increase in size. During the first year of their age the crab and lobster must change their suit of clothes more than once, they grow with such rapidity ”