92 



SALMONID^, 



20. Salmo ferox. 



The Great Lake Trout. 



Salmo lacustris, Berkenhout, Syn. Nat. Hist. Great Brit. 1795, i. p. 79. 



ferox, Jardine <§- SeJby, Edinh, New Philos. Jmirn. 1835, x\nii. 



p. 55 ; Jardine, Salmon, pi. 4 (gill-covers badly drawn) ; Yarrell, 

 Brit. Fish. 2nd edit. ii. p. 110, 3rd edit. i. p. 288; Richards. Faun. 

 Bor.-Amer. Fish. p. 144. 



Salar ferox, Cuv. ^ Vol. xxi. p. 338. 



D.13. A. 10-11. P. 16. V.9. L.lat. 125. L. transv. 26/30. 

 .Caec. pyl. 44-49. Vert. 58-59. 



Largest specimen observed, 31 inches ; female mature at a length 

 of 14 inches. 



Head weU proportioned in its shape, and of moderate size when 

 compared with the body, but large in mature males ; body stout ; 

 hinder part of the tail rather short. The posterior point of junction 

 of operculum and suboperculum is nearer to the lower anterior angle 

 of the suboperculum than to the upper end of the gill-opening. Prce- 

 operculum crescent-shaped, the hinder 

 and lower margins passing into each 

 other without forming an angle. Snout 

 conical, much produced in the male 

 sex, in which, during the spawning- 

 season, a mandibulary hook is deve- 

 loped. Maxillary much longer than 

 the snout, generally curved, solid, but 

 rather narrow; in specimens 18 inches 

 long it extends to the vertical from the 

 hind margin of the eye, and much be- 

 yond it in adult males. Teeth strong : 

 the head of the vomer small, triangular, 

 broader than long, toothless ; the body 

 of this bone armed with a double or zig- 

 zag series of teeth, the teeth being 

 alternately placed, forming nearly a 

 single series behind ; they are per- 

 sistent throughout life. Fins rather 

 short, and obtuse ; the length of the 

 pectoral is one-half or rather less than 

 one-half of the distance of its base 

 from that of the ventral. The caudal 



fin is perfectly truncate in specimens 18 inches long, and in old 

 individuals rather convex. There are from thirteen to sixteen 

 scales in a transverse series descending from behind the adipose 

 fin forwards to the lateral line. 



Upper parts deep purplish brown, sides of the head and body with 

 more or less numerous round deep-black spots, which have a pale or 

 blood-red margin during the spawning-season. Dorsal fin with 

 smaller black spots ; extremities of the fins blackish, without light 

 margin. Other specimens are bright silvery on the sides, with 

 numerous reticulated black spots. 



Praeoperculum. 



