74 



The Salmon 



they widen out again during the summer. No river-mark appears in 

 these scales, because the fish have not been in fresh water since they 

 descended as smolts. 



To many it may seem strange that a grilse the same age as this 



FIG. 66. gi Ibs. i8th February 1907. Marked as Smolt May 1905. 



February spring fish can be 8, 10, or 12 Ibs. weight in August the 

 previous year, and this spring fish, after having six months more 

 feeding in the sea, is yet of less weight. It seems equally strange 

 why a fish the same age as the grilse caught on Qth August 

 weighed 27 Ibs. Knowing these things, we need not wonder at a fish 

 being caught over 40 Ibs. in another year. We have no way of 

 knowing what the weight of the grilse that came up in the autumn 



