SALMO FEROX. 313 



Salmo ferox (Cuvier and Valenciennes). 

 D. 13, A. 10—11, P. 16, V. 9. Scales : lat. line 125, trans. 2G— 30. 



The Great Lake Trout is entirely British. It does not migrate, and is 

 found in the lochs of the North of Scotland, in Dervventwater, and other lakes 

 of the North of England, in the Lake of LlanLeris in Wales, and Lough 

 Melvin in Ireland. 



It reaches a length of thirty-one inches, but the female matures eggs when 

 only fourteen inches long. It is a fine Trout, with a deep body, with the tail 

 short, and head rather large in mature males. The pre-operculum is crescent- 

 .shaped, so that its posterior and inferior margins do not form an angle. The 

 snout is one-third of the length of the head in the male ; but it is elongated 

 with age, and the mandible forms a hook. The maxillary bone is longer 

 than the snout, extends beyond the eye in the adult, though, as usual, the 

 teeth are smaller on the maxillary and palatine bones than on the inter- 

 maxillary and mandible. The head of the vomer is toothless. The body of 

 the bone has a double or zigzag series of teeth, almost becoming a single series 

 behind. They are persistent throughout life. 



The fins are rather short, especially the pectoral and ventral. The hinder 

 margin of the caudal is truncate. 



Tlie skin is remarkably thick, and completely embeds the scales both on 

 the back and on the abdomen. There are thirteen to sixteen series of scales in 

 a transverse series, descending anteriorly from behind the adipose fin to the 

 lateral line. 



The colour of the upper part of the body is a deep purple-brown, some- 

 times greenish-brown, with the sides lighter, and marked with roimd deep- 

 black spots, which occasionally have a blood-red margin. During spawning- 

 time the spots have a red centre and black margin. The dorsal fin has small 

 black spots, and the other fins are blackish. Sometimes the spots on the 

 bright silvery sides are reticulated. 



There are fifty-eight or fifty-nine vertebne, and forty-four to forty-nine 

 pyloric appendages. 



Mr. C. St. John, in his *^'Tour in Sutherlandshire," says :—" Loch Awe 

 will always maintain its high repute for its large Lake Trout, which rival the 

 Pike in size and voracity, but are stronger, and far more wary and difficult to 

 catch. A Salmo ferox of fifteen pounds^ weight is no mean adversary. His first 

 rush, when he finds himself iirmly hooked, is nearly strong enough to tow the 

 fishing coble after him. And then comes the tug of war. The monster, held 



