THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 



331 



head; pectoral fin one-eighth of total length without caudal. B. II or 12; D. 11 , 

 A. 12. Scales from 137 to 177, usually about 150-28; pyloric c^eca 42; vertebrae 

 38+20=58. Color olive green above, sides silvery, head, back, dorsal and Cauda; 

 fins profusely covered with small black spots, no red between the rami of the lower 



jaw. 



The Steelhead Trout is found in coastwise streams from Southern California to 

 Bristol Bay, Alaska. It spawns in the late winter and early spring; ripe eggs were 

 obtained at Sitka, Alaska, June 10. Spent fish of this species are frequently taken 

 with the spring run of the King Salmon. 



The economic value of the Steelhead is very great ; the fish reaches a weight of 

 30 pounds, though the average weight is under 20 pounds, and the non-anadronious 

 forms seldom exceed 5 or 6 pounds. 



From information furnished by Mr. Annin it appears evident that some of the 

 eggs of Trout received at Caledonia, N. Y., many years ago from the McLeod River, 



STEELHEAD. 



Cal., as Rainbows, really included both Rainbows and Steelheads. He finds certain 

 females producing deep salmon-colored eggs while in the same pond and receiving 

 the same food as other females which furnish very light-colored, almost white, eggs. 

 Some of the females also differ from others in going to the spawning beds nearly 

 two months earlier. It is now known also that the McLeod contains a small-scaled 

 form of the Raintow, known to the Indians as the no-shec, and this also may easily 

 have been sent to the east under the name of Rainbow. Striking differences in the 

 appearance and habits of so-called Rainbows introduced into the various States 

 lend color to this supposition. 



Steelheads were obtained for the New York aquarium in November, 1896, from 

 the U. S. Fish Commission. They were hatched from eggs shipped from Fort 

 Gaston, Cal., to the station at Craig Brook, Me. The length of the trout when 

 received ranged fr(HTi 4 to 4)^ inches. After one year they were 10 inches long on 



