MANUAL OF FISH-CULTURE. 11 



rivers they are comparatively safe from enemies except otters, ospreys, 

 and fishers, but immense numbers are destroyed at the mouths of the 

 streams by seals and sea lions. 



The quinnat salmon has been successfully introduced into Australia, 

 New Zealand,' and France, and in the latter country it is now being 

 reared successfully as landlocked salmon in fresh-water lakes. Efforts 

 to acclimatize this species on the Atlantic coast of the United States 

 have ui) to this time been unsuccessful. 



THE BLUEBACK SALMON. 



Considering the entire west coast, this species {Oncorhynclius nerica) 

 is probably more numerous than all the other salmons combined. It is 

 known in different regions under the names blueback, redfish, red 

 salmon, Fraser Eiver salmon, and sock-eye or saw-qui. It ranks next 

 to the Chinook in commercial value, being especially important in the 

 Columbia and Fraser rivers and in Alaska. For canning purposes it 

 is but liftle inferior to the chinook, the color of the flesh being a rich 

 red, which persists after canning. Com^Daratively few red salmon are 

 sold fresh in the United States. Large quantities are canned in British 

 Columbia and in Alaska, particularly on Kadiak Island, and its com- 

 mercial imj)ortance to that Territory is indicated by the fact that nearly 

 half of the entire salmon pack of the world comes from Alaska and the 

 majority of the fish canned are of this sjiecies. 



It is next to the smallest of the salmons, the maximum weight being 

 about 15 i)ouuds, but it rarely weighs over 8 pounds and the average 

 weight is scarcely 5 pounds. In various lakes this fish weighs only 

 half a pound when mature, and is called the little redfish. 



It ranges from Humboldt Bay, California, to the far north. lu 

 general it ascends only those rivers which rise in cold, snow-fed lakes. 

 No more is known of its ocean life than of the quinnat. It a^ipears 

 in the Columbia liiver with the spring run of the quinnat salmon. In 

 southern Alaska and also at Kadiak Island it comes in numbers in 

 June; the heaviest run is during June and July, the spawning occur- 

 ring in August and September. In the Idaho lakes, which may be 

 considered typical spawning-grounds for this fish in the United States, 

 the height of the spawning season is from August 25 to September 5, 

 although ripe eggs have been found as early as August 2, and fish with 

 eggs in them as late as September 11. In the numerous affluents of 

 the Fraser River the spawning extends from September 15 to November 

 15, a few stragglers spawning as late as November 30. They scoop out 

 small circular nests for their eggs in rather shallow water in the inlets 

 of the lakes, where they deposit their spawn, the eggs averaging about 

 1,000 to 1,200 to the fish. 



Except during the breeding season the color of this fish is a clear 

 bright blue above, with silvery sides and belly. At the spawning 

 period the back becomes blood-red in color, the sides dark red, and the 

 male develops an extravagantly hooked jaw. 



