CXL REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



shore inquiries conducted in conjunction with the dredging, collecting, 

 and hydrographic work ou the vessel, but the Albatross was transferred 

 to the ISTavy Department shortly after the investigations were begun, 

 and the only studies made were those relating to the fish, fishing, and 

 fishing-grounds of San Diego County. The recent marked development 

 of the fishing industry of the southern counties of California makes it 

 very desirable that a thorough examination of the outlying fishing- 

 grounds should be carried on with reference to the habits, migrations, 

 abundance, food, spawning, etc., of the fishes found thereon. This 

 work should be taken up by the Alhatross as soon as practicable. 



The barracuda {Sphyrcena argenfea) is by far the most important food- 

 fish taken in this section. It makes its appearance in February or 

 March and remains until November, rarely until December, being most 

 abundant from April to August. It is found off the shores of Lower 

 California in January, which leads the fishermen to believe that it 

 travels northward along the coast; but the fact that in one season 

 recently the barracuda was caught at San Pedro, Los Angeles County, 

 a few weeks earlier than at San Diego, would indicate that its move- 

 ments toward the coast are chiefly from deep water ofishore. 



Other important fishes of the San Diego region are bonito {Sarda 

 chilensis), yellow-tail {Seriola dorsalis), several species of bass {ParaJa- 

 &r«.r), flounder {Paralichthys calif ornicus), and rockfishes (Sebastodes) of 

 many species. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH SALMON OVA. 



In October and November, 1897, during the prosecution of salmon- 

 hatching work at Battle Creek Station, Cal., Mr. Cloudsley Butter, 

 scientific assistant, conducted some experiments having a practical 

 bearing on fish-cultural work, and chiefly directed to questions relating 

 to the fertilization and development of tlie eggs of the quinnat salmon 

 ( Oncorhynchus tschaivytscha). Among the subjects specially considered 

 were the influence on fertilization of the exposure of the eggs to water, 

 the vitality of the milt, the fertilizing of eggs from dead fish, the fertil- 

 ization of bloody, slimy, and foamy eggs, the effects of handling eggs at 

 supposed critical periods, and the i)ercentage of eggs fertilized under 

 natural and artificial conditions. The studies were not completed and 

 they will probably be resumed next season. An outline of the general 

 results is here givAi. 



Numerous experiments were tried to determine how long salmon 

 eggs might remain in water and still be capable of fertilization. This 

 subject has a very important bearing on fish-cultural operations as well 

 as on natural reproduction. No eggs were fertilizable after they had 

 been in water more than 5 minutes, and only 2 per cent on 5 minutes' 

 immersion. After being in water 2^ minutes, 16 per cent were fer- 

 tilized. After rapidly washing the blood from eggs taken from fish 

 already stripped, only 11 per cent were fertilized. 



Spermatozoa were found to live for more than 10 minutes after the 

 milt was mixed with water, but their fertilizing powers rapidly dete- 



