REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 89 



are well delined, and differ widely in habit and in commercial value, a 

 matter of vital importance to an under.standing-of the salmon question. 



(1) The chinook salmon, Oncorhynchns tschawytscha (Walbaum), is 

 called king salmon or spring" salmon in Alaska; spring or chinook sal- 

 mon on Fraser River and Puget Sound; chinook, quinnat. or Colum- 

 bia River salmon on the Columbia; and Sacramento River salmon in 

 California. It is called tyee salmon where the Chinook jargon is 

 spoken, and tchavitche among the Russians. It reaches a larg'er size 

 than any other species, the average weight of those caught in the com 

 mercial fisheries being about 22 pounds, while examples weighing 40 

 to 60 pounds are not rare, and occasionally individuals have been taken 

 which had reached the enormous weight of 80 to 100 pounds. 



In quality of flesh the chinook salmon is superior to any other. 

 Its flesh is red, rich, tender, and delicioush^ flavored, becoming paler 

 in color, however, and less rich in flavor as the spawning season 

 approaches. This salmon may readily be distinguished b}^ its large 

 size, the presence of round, black spots on back and tail, 15 to 19 

 branchiostegals, and 1 8 or 19 rays in the anal fin. As the breeding 

 season approaches, the colors become duller and the sides blotched 

 with dull red. 



The chinook salmon runs in the large' rivers, especially those having 

 glacial or snow-fed tributaries. Its chief run is in May and June in 

 the north, in June, July, and later in the Columbia, and still later in 

 the ScTcramento. In the Columbia and Sacramento there is a more or 

 less distinct run in September. In northern Alaska the principal run 

 is in May; in Bristol Bay, about the middle of June. This salmon 

 goes to the very headwaters of the streams it inhabits, in the Colum- 

 bia reaching the Sawtooth Mountains in central Idaho, and the head- 

 Waters of other streams furnishing suitable spawning grounds. In 

 the Yukon some individuals are said each year to ascend to Caribou 

 Crossing on Lake Bennett, a distance of 2,250 miles from the sea. 



In Alaska, the fish runs in appreciable numbers in the Stikine, Taku, 

 Chilkat, Alsek, Kussilof, Copper, Knik, Nushagak, Yukon, and 

 Kowak rivers. It is not abundant in southeast Alaska, though small 

 schools are sometimes seen in pursuit of schools of herring, and occa- 

 sional individuals may be taken anj^ month in the year at certain 

 places, particularly in Chatham Strait. It is not believed that the 

 species goes far out to sea, or for any great distance from the mouth 

 of the stream in v\'hich it was spawned. 



(2) The red salmon, or red -fish of Alaska, Oncorhynchns nerka {Y^ s\- 

 baum), is known in the Columbia River as blueback salmon, and on 

 the Fraser River and in Puget Sound as the sockeye, a Chinook word 

 originally spelled sukkegh. By the Russians it is called krasnaya ryha^ 

 which means redfish. 



