130 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



47. Salmon (Salmo salar Linnaeus) 

 Atlantic salmon; Sea salmon; Parr; Smolt; Grilse; Kelt 



Jordan and Everinann, 1896-1900, p. 486. 



Description. — The Atlantic salmon is a more slender and graceful fish than the 

 humpback — about one-fourth as deep as long, deepest below the dorsal fin, whence 

 it tapers toward both head and tail. It is oval in cross section. Its head is small 

 (about one-fifth, or less, of the total length, not counting caudal fin), its nose is 

 pointed, the eye rather small, and its mouth gapes back to below the eye. The 

 dorsal fin (about 11 rays) stands about midway between the tip of the snout and 

 base of tail fin; the ventrals are under its rear end. The anal is similar in form to 

 the dorsal but with only about 9 rays (7 to 10 have been recorded), whereas the 

 humpback has 14 or more. In adults the tail is only very slightly emarginate; 

 almost square in large fish. In fish only one year at sea, however ("smolts" and 

 "grilse"), it is more forked. 



Teeth. — The teeth afford the most certain distinction between small salmon 

 and the New England sea trout (Salvelinus, p. 138) , for in the former the roof of the 

 mouth is armed not only with a cluster in front but with a row of stout conical 

 teeth running back along its midline, easily felt with the finger, whereas the sea 

 trout has the anterior group only. Old salmon sometimes lose these "vomerine" 

 teeth, but the large size of the fish identifies them at a glance. 



Scales. — The scales are large — a diagnostic feature for small fish — those of the 

 sea trout being hardly visible (p. 139). 



Color. — While in the sea the salmon is silvery all over, with brownish back and 

 marked on head, body (chiefly above the lateral line), and fins with numerous small 

 black crosses and spots. 



Weight of salmon in the Gulf of Maine. — The largest salmon we find mentioned 

 was an English fish of 83 pounds. None even approaching this size is recorded from 

 our side of the Atlantic, where a 50-pounder is unusual, though fish of 40 pounds 

 weight are not uncommon in some of the larger rivers emptying into the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence. In the Penobscot and St. John Rivers very few fish reach 40 pounds 

 and 30-pounders are rare, the usual run bein'g 10 to 12 pounds. Taking one river 

 with another, large and small, 10 pounds may be set as a fair average of the mature 

 Gulf of Maine fish. With due allowance for individual and seasonal variation a 

 2-foot fish will weigh about 6 pounds; one of 3 feet, 16 to 20 pounds. 



General range. — -Coastal waters of both sides of the North Atlantic to within the 

 Arctic Circle, entering rivers to spawn. On the American coast salmon formerly 

 ran up all suitable rivers from northern Labrador to the Housatonic River in Con- 

 necticut and possibly the Hudson also. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — When the white man first came to New 

 England he found salmon in every large stream not barred by impassable falls 

 from Cape Sable to Cape Cod; that is, all the Nova Scotian and New Brunswick 

 rivers tributary to the Gulf of Maine, and the following rivers in New England: 

 St. Croix, Dennys, Orange, East Machias, Machias, Pleasant, Narraguagus, 



