Salmonidae

“ Beside them are occasional (in some waters too frequent) captures such as dog-fish and sharks, skates and rays. Many of them run to a great size and give [v.02 p.0031] plenty of sport on a rod, though they are not as a rule welcomed. Lastly, it must be mentioned that certain of the Salmonidae, smelts (Osmerus eperlanus) , sea-trout, occasionally brown trout, and still more occasionally salmon can be caught in salt water either in sea-lochs or at the mouths of rivers. Smelts are best fished for with tiny hooks tied on fine gut and baited with fragments of shrimp, ragworm, and other delicacies. ”

“ Any one of numerous species of fishes belonging to Salmo, Salvelinus, and allied genera of the family Salmonidæ. They are highly esteemed as game fishes and for the quality of their flesh. All the species breed in fresh water, but after spawning many of them descend to the sea if they have an opportunity.

The most important European species are the river, or brown, trout (Salmo fario) , the salmon trout, and the sewen. The most important American species are the brook, speckled, or red-spotted, trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) of the Northern United States and Canada ”

“ By the fortieth day the embryo fish were visible to the naked eye, and, on the 14th January, (seventy-five days after deposition,) the fry were excluded from the egg. At this early period, the brood exhibit no perceptible difference from that of the salmon, except that they are somewhat smaller, and of paler hue. In two months they were an inch long, and had then assumed those lateral markings so characteristic of the young of all the known Salmonidæ. They increased in size slowly, measuring only three inches in length by the month of October, at which time they were nine months old. ”

“ Ventral fins nearly median in position. Pectoral fins inserted low. Lateral line present. Outline of belly rounded. Vertebræ in large number, usually about 60. Skeleton not strongly ossified. The stomach in all the Salmonidæ is siphonal, and at the pylorus are many (15 to 200) comparatively large pyloric cæca. The air-bladder is large. The eggs are usually much larger than in fishes generally, and the ovaries are without special duct, the ova falling into the cavity of the abdomen before exclusion. ”

“ The highest latitude at which fishes have been obtained is 82° lat. N., whence the late Arctic Expedition brought back specimens of Charr (Salmo arcturus and Salmo naresii) .
The ichthyological features of this zone are well marked: the Chondrosteous Ganoids or Sturgeons, and the families of Salmonidæ and Esocidæ are limited to, and characteristic of, it; Cyprinoids flourish with the Salmonoids, both families preponderating in numbers over the others, whilst the Siluroids are few in number and in variety. ”

“ This fish is much bolder and a more free feeder than the common carp. It increases so rapidly in numbers, and is a hard fighting and lively fish.
Most of the coarse fish deposit a much larger number of eggs than do any of the Salmonidæ—that [Pg 91] is to say, in proportion to their size. In stocking a water which contains no fish, the amateur may wish to hurry on the process of nature in the case of coarse fish; and, fortunately, this is fairly easily managed. In the case of perch, rudd, pike, and carp, but little change of water is required to hatch out the eggs. ”

“ But still, if 500,000 are bred, in addition to all that are reared naturally, it will represent a larger proportion of the whole than Salmo Salar seems to suppose; otherwise, how is it that in rivers where Salmon are protected, or still more in unsettled countries, the Salmon are so numerous? The Salmon in the Columbia river, on the north-west coast of America, are cast dead upon the shores by myriads after the spawning season, and these are merely the fish dying from exhaustion, as a small portion always do here. ”

“ It is well known that Salmon are very fond of particular streams, their instinct no doubt informing them which are suitable to their purpose; and when one pair of fish have finished spawning, another pair will come and occupy the same place. Now, what takes place under such circumstances? The ova which were deposited by the first pair are rooted up by the second, and their specific gravity is so near that of the water, that they roll down out of the loose gravel and are picked up by the Trouts, Par, and other fish that are always lying in wait just below for that purpose. ”

“ The fry of the Salmon, which, by-the-bye, is perhaps the most delicately flavoured fish that exists in this country, although it lives and thrives in fresh water for two or three years, if kept in a locality where it cannot escape to the sea, yet, if kept longer than that time, pines away and dies. If, therefore, we could obtain a hybrid fish, bred between the river Trout and the Salmon, we should probably produce a fish which, being a mule, would be always in good condition; being crossed with a river fish, it would probably never require a visit to salt water to keep it in good health. ”

“ These rules, with some modification, are applicable to the breeding of Salmon as well as Trout; the only difference being in the mode of placing the female fish, when obtaining the roe, and the size of the gravel in which the spawn is deposited in the boxes. The Salmon is too large a fish to put into the vessels in which the diluted milt is placed, but I think that she should be held by an assistant, in such a manner that the tail and lower part of the body up to the vent are immersed in the water containing the milt. ”

“ Never no more, Salmo Salar, unless something smashes—not an inch, be you of gold instead of silver. How the good man gaffs the fish in the rough edge stream I know not; only he does it masterly, and with back and knees trembling, and breath puffing hard and short, I drop upon the moss in an ecstasy of silence.
Yet it is only a salmon of 15 lb.; but that quarter of an hour of "hold on" is the most intense thing, so far, of my experience with salmon, not forgetting that surprise, many a year back, when I killed my first salmon with a No. 1 trout fly by the dorsal in the Galway river. ”

“ When they are cut open their flesh is pink, and all the other fish have white flesh. King Salmon was taking a little exercise one day, dashing about in the salt sea or sailing up the river, perhaps, when he ran his great stupid head into a net, and the more he struggled the worse it was, and strong as he was—as strong as a fairly big dog—he could not break that net, and so he was hauled out and brought to shore, where he died. ”

“ What leads to the migration of salmon from sea to river and river to sea? It is usually supposed that they come to the river to spawn; that it is the nisus generativus that drives them from the sea, where their ova will not develop, to the fresh water where development is possible. But it is found that salmon are passing from sea to river at all seasons of the year, and with their genitalia in all stages of development—some fish, running in March with ovaries only 1% of the body weight, other fish not running till October with ovaries 15 or 16% of the body weight. ”

“ Vegetable flowers are not the only ones to open: sexes of flesh also flower. Birds, fish take on new and more vivid colours. There are songs, plays, pilgrimages. Salmon who live quietly at the river-mouths, must gather, depart, climb the streams, pass weirs, scrabble against rocks which form the dams and cataracts, wear themselves out leaping as arrows against all human and natural obstacles. Males and females arrive worn out at the end of their journey, the frayère of fine sand where they are to lay their eggs, and the males heroically to spend the milt distilled from their blood. ”

“ If a fish be buried in sand till only his tail be left exposed, a slight tap on any part of the tail will excite the fish and cause it to free itself, or attempt to do so. Salmon have been known to wear their snouts to the bone and their tails entirely away at digging in the sand and stones for a nest in which to spawn. This and other facts go to prove that fish, in spite of their sensitiveness about the nose and tail, do not feel pain, as from a hook in their gills or even in their stomachs. ”

“ The Salmon offers a most remarkable instance of irregularity as regards the age at which the individuals arrive at maturity. Shaw has demonstrated, in the most conclusive manner, that those small Salmonoids, which are generally called Parr, are the offspring of the Salmon, and that many males, from 7 to 8 inches long, have their sexual organs fully developed, and that their milt has all the impregnating properties of the seminal fluid of a much older and larger fish. ”

“ Salmo salar [The Salmon] .
This valuable and highly-prized fish is found both along our coast and in our fresh waters. At one time, they were very numerous in the Deveron. From a pot or hole which once existed a little below the bridge which spans the river, at a little distance from the sea, and not far from the town, as many as one hundred, and sometimes more, have been taken at a haul. This was before stake and bag nets were so thickly planted along our sea-shore as they are now.
Salmo eriox [The Bull or Gray Trout] .
Some large individuals of this species are often taken. ”

“ If some such enactments as these were made and properly enforced, there is no doubt Salmon would swarm in every river, for their fecundity is such, that a very few Salmon spawning in a river under favourable circumstances stock it abundantly with Smolts. A large Salmon having not less than 25,000 eggs in it, how soon, with a little forbearance and care, would every river swarm with this delicious fish, even to such a degree as to be a cheap food for the poor! But to obtain such results it must be made the interest of every person to protect them. ”

“ Size appears to depend on the abundance of food and the extent of the water. Thus, the Salmon and the different kinds of great Lake-trout do not appear to vary considerably in size, because they find the same conditions in all the localities inhabited by them. A widely spread species, however, like S. fario, when it inhabits a small mountain pool with scanty food, may never exceed a weight of eight ounces, whilst in a large lake or river, where it finds an abundance and variety of food, it attains to a weight of fourteen or sixteen pounds. ”

“ It would appear that the contact with cold fresh water, when in the ocean, in some way causes them to run toward it, and to run before there is any special influence to that end exerted by the development of the organs of generation. High water on any of these rivers in the spring is always followed by an increased run of salmon. The manner of spawning is probably similar for all the species. Usually the fishes pair off; the male, with tail and snout, excavates a broad, shallow ‘nest’ in the gravelly bed of the stream, in rapid water, at a depth of one to four feet ”

“ Through the winter months the Salmon rises freely at the fly; but the diminution of vigour and energy in the fish affords very inferior sport. Their beauty and their value too are gone. "They are now reddish, dull, dark-spotted, perch-coloured fish, and seem a different species from the sparkling, silvery creatures we saw them when they first left the sea. ”

“ Then, if one Salmon is able to plough up gravel which is cemented together by sand and long continuance in one place, why should not another be able to do the same when the gravel is loose and easily removed? But there is another enemy whom Salmo Salar has not mentioned, who does more harm than all the rest: that is the poacher, and I fear that many of the Salmon which Salmo Salar saw spawning in the Hodder and its tributaries have since then made a journey overland. At all events, I am credibly informed that in one season a gang of poachers took seventy Salmon in the Hodder. ”

“ Although the salmon float within sight and reach in the most transparent stream, they will not touch the fly, be it thrown even on their noses. The only reason that can be given for this notorious fact is, that the salmon, when they leave the sea, are generally gorged, and do not desire, or seek for food until they have travelled some distance up the rivers; for it is equally well ascertained that the farther the first foss is removed from the mouth of a salmon river, the more voracious are the fish. ”

“ At the sea, the dwarf fish running are almost all males. In the spawning season of the Quinnat salmon, many young males but one or two years of age enter the river with the larger fish, spawning precociously, and all dying. Perhaps these dwarf red salmon are simply precocious individuals spawning and dying before their time. No females were seen among these by us at Astoria. In streams of Cook Inlet, there is a late run of very small red salmon, locally known as 'Arctic salmon.' These are doubtless young fish running prematurely. ”

“ Let the upper proprietors of Salmon rivers bestir themselves so to amend the law as to give them a chance of having a supply of Salmon when they are in season. They cannot and will not have a more efficient ally than Salmo Salar. Salmo Salar is in my opinion quite right when he says that the fish kept in ponds will not be quite so well able to take care of themselves as fish which have been bred and lived all their lives in the river. ”

“ Everyone conversant with the habits of Salmon knows that they never ascend rivers except when they are in a state of flood; and in average summers, partly owing to droughts, and partly to the rapid evaporation and absorption of moisture by vegetation, these twenty-eight days may fairly be reduced by two-thirds, to give the true time allowed for the ascent of the fish. But say ten days, which are supposed to give an adequate supply of fish to a hundred miles of river,—the extent of the Ribble and its Salmon-breeding tributaries. ”