Jordan and Evermann. — Fishes of North America. 479 



males of this species are much distorted and the flesh has little value. 



{Keta, a veruacular uame in Kamchatka.) 



Salmo hcta vel knyko, WALHxrM, Artedi riscium, 72, 1792, Rivers of Kamchatka; after the 



iela or kai/lo of Pennant and Krascheninnikow; Blocii & Schneidek, Syst. Icbth., 407, 



1801. 

 Salmo laijocepJialm, Pallas, Zoogr. Koss.-Asiatica, in, ^72, 1811, Bering Sea. 

 ? Salmo j<qmne>isis, Palias, Zoogr. Ross.-Asiatica, iii, 382, 1811, Curile Islands; Amur River. 

 Sabito dermatiuus, Richahi'.son, Voyage Herald, Zoiil., 1G7, 1854, Yukon River. 

 Sabiio comiidii.':, Richardson, Voyage Herald, Zoiil., 168, 1854, Yukon River. 

 Salmo raiih, Sl'CKLEY, Anu. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., 1858, 9, and Mouugr. Salmo, 101, 1801 (1874),* 



Puget Sound. 

 OncorhijnclMS lagocephalus, GCnther, Cat., vi, 161, 1866. 

 Oncorhi/nckus kela, Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 305, 1883. 



775. ONCOBHYNCHUS TSCHAWYTSCHA (Walbaum). 



(QuiNNAT Salmon; Tchaviche; King Salmon; Columbia Salmon; Sacramento Salmon; 

 Chinook Salmon; Tyee Salmon; Saw-kwey ; Tschawytscha.) 



Head 4 ; depth 4. B. 15 or 16 to 18 or 19, the number ou the two sides 

 always unlike. D. 11; A. 16. Gill rakers usually 9 + 14 (i. e., 9 above 

 the angle and 14 below). Pyloric cceca 140 to 185 ; scales usually 27-146- 

 29, the number in a longitudinal series varying from 140 to 155, and in 

 California specimens occasionally as low as 135. Vertebrae 66. Head 

 conic, rather pointed in the females and si)ring males. Maxillary rather 

 slender, the small eye behind its middle. Teeth small, longer on sides 

 of lower jaw than in front; vomerine teeth very few and weak, disap- 

 pearing in the males. In the males in late summer and fall the jaws 

 become elongate and distorted, and the anterior teeth much enlarged, as 

 in the related species. The body then becomes deeper, more compressed, 

 and arched at the shoulders, and the color often nearly black. Preoper- 

 cle and opercle strongly convex. Body comparatively robust, its depth 

 greatest near its middle. Ventrals inserted behind middle of dorsal, 

 ventral appendage half the length of the fin; caudal, as usual in this 

 genus, strongly forked, on a rather slender caudal peduncle. Color 

 dusky above, often tinged with olivaceous or bluish ; sides and below 

 silvery ; head dark slaty, usually darker than the body and little spotted ; 

 back, dorsal fin, and tail usually profusely covered with round Itlack 

 spots (these are sometimes few, but very rarely altogether Avanting); 

 sides of head and caudal fin with a peculiar metallic tin-colored luster- 

 male, about the spawning season (October), blackish, more or less tinged 

 or blotched with dull red. Flesh red and rich in spring, becoming paler 

 in the fall as the spawning season approaches. Length 2 to 5 feet. 

 Usual weight in the Columbia River 22 pounds, in the Sacramento 16 to 

 18 pounds; in smaller rivers still less, but individuals of 70 to 100 

 pounds have been taken. Alaska, Oregon, and California, southward to 

 Ventura River, and to northern China, ascending all large streams; 

 especially abundant in the Columbia and Sacramento rivers, where it 

 is the principal salmon. It ascends t the large streams in spring and 



* Dr. Suckley's monograph of the genus Salmo was written in 1861, but not actually printed 

 and published until 1874. 



t Tbo usual order of salmon running in the streams of Oregon and Washington is nerka, (scha- 

 leytscha, kistUch, ijurbuschu, and k«ta. Those which start lirst go farthest. 



