1 88 The Life Story of the Fish 



body substance and in sex products discharged, between 40 

 and 45 per cent of their weight. Since death by starvation is 

 known to occur in many animals when the loss in body 

 weight exceeds 40 per cent, it may be assumed that those 

 Atlantic salmon which survive spawning are the fortunate 

 ones which have lost less than the average. The fact is that 

 most Atlantic salmon in most localities do die after spawn- 

 ing. Only a small percentage survive to spawn a second time, 

 and of those that have spawned twice only a few survive to 

 spawn again. Fourth spawnings are exceedingly rarej in gen- 

 eral eight years of life and three spawnings are the limit. In 

 very short streams the spawning-beds are more quickly and 

 easily reached than in the longer ones, the strain on the fish 

 is not so great, and more of them survive. The survivors, 

 having less distance to cover on their return journey to the 

 sea and less depletion to make up, are more quickly ready for 

 another spawning. The result is that the fish of such streams 

 spend more time on the aggregate in fresh water, less time 

 in the ocean sopping up good food, and therefore do not grow 

 very large. This is one of the reasons why smaller streams 

 usually have small salmon. The really big fish, as we have 

 said, are the old "maidens" — the fish which do not come in 

 from the feeding grounds for their first spawning until they 

 have had a chance to do a lot of growing. 



While some of the Pacific salmon travel only a short way, 

 some have tremendous trips to make. Spawning-beds in the 

 Yukon are two thousand miles from the sea, and, since the 

 time between the disappearance of ice in the spring and its 

 reappearance in the fall is so short, the distance must be 

 covered with great speed. Records show the fish making the 

 first fifteen hundred miles in thirty days — a rate of fifty 

 miles a day, against a current which probably sets them back 

 at least that amount. In other words, they cover what really 

 amounts to three thousand miles in thirty days. By the end 



