TllK lEi:s]l-N\-ATi:ii FLSllES (>F EL'liUrE. 



Salmo cambricus (Donovan). 



zi 



D. 11, A. 11—12, P. ](■>, V. 1). Sc-ales : lat. line \-H) — ]:i:,, tniiis. 



;38— 40. 



A variety of the Salmon Trout, termed Peal and Salmon Peal, is known 

 in Wales as Sewin, and often as the Bull Trout. It is by no means limited to 

 Britain, though characteristic of the Welsh area, Cornwall and Devonshire, 

 beinjy also found in Ireland, while it is known on the Continent from Den- 

 mark and Norway. 



It is a fine fish, reaehin<j a leno>tli of about three feet, with the head 

 rather lonj^ as compared with the depth of the body. The leng-th of the oper- 

 culum as compared with its depth, according- to Dr. Giinther, in the Parr stage 

 is one-fifth greater, two-fifths longer in the Grilse stage, three-fifths longer in 

 fishes of twenty-two inches, and four-fifths longer in fishes thirty-two inchc-s 

 long. The radiating strise on the base of the hinder opercular border are more 

 conspicuous than the marginal stria?. The sub-opcrculum projects backward. 

 The pre-02)erculuni has a distinct lower limb with the angle rounded. 



The snout becomes elongated in males, and in the spawning season the 

 male lower jaw is hooked. The strong maxillary bone is longer than the snout, 

 and even in young fish may extend behind the orbit. The dentition of the jaws 

 and palate is well developed, though the teeth on the maxillary bone are smaller 

 than those on the pre-maxillary, palatine bone, and mandible. The head of 

 the vomer is triangular, broader than long ; it becomes toothless in the adult 

 fish, and has a few teeth across its hinder margin in young individuals. The 

 body of the bone carries a longitudinal ridge, on the sides of which teeth are 

 jdaced in a single series so as to point alternately to the right and left, but by 

 the time the fish is twelve or thirteen inches long all but two or three in front 

 have been shed. These may remain for some time, since Dr. Giinther records 

 them in fishes twenty-two and twenty-four inches long. The inter-orbital 

 space is very convex, and the orbit is far below the upper j^rofile of the head. 



The fins are not conspicuously developed. The dorsal is a little longer 

 than high, with the last ray cleft to the base, as in Salmo (riitta. The height 

 of the anal fin is half as much again as the length of its base. The ventral 

 fin is shorter than the pectoral, and the caudal varies with age. It is forked 

 when the fish is six inches long, is slightly emarginate in the Grilse, and 

 truncate in the adult. 



The scales in young fishes are easily shed ; they are thin, short, and 

 rounded, as large on the body as on the tail, with tlie usual fourteen scales in 

 a transverse series between the adipose lin and the lateral line, though this 



