REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 91 



the fall, and does not usually begin before the middle of August, con- 

 tinuing until late in September. In southeast Alaska the species is 

 quite abundant and is increasing in importance each year. Usually 

 the canneries pay the fishermen the same price for this that they pay 

 for the red salmon. It is canned as " Coho,'" or "medium-red " salmon. 



(i) The humpback salmon, Oncorhynchus gorhuscha (Walbaum), is 

 known to the Russians as gorhuscha^ and to the trade as pink salmon. 

 It is the smallest of the five species of Pacific salmons, seldom weighing 

 more than 6 pounds, and usually not exceeding 3. It may be readily 

 distinguished by its very small scales, and the presence of oblong black 

 spots on the tail. The flesh is very much less firm than that of the pre- 

 ceding species, is pale in color, and the characteristic salmon flavor is less 

 pronounced. When fresh and directly from the sea it is very palat- 

 able and wholesome, and is generally regarded, next to the chinook, 

 as the best of all the salmon when fresh. As a salted fish it also ranks 

 well, and salted humpback bellies are esteemed a great delicacy. It 

 does not keep well in a fresh state, however, the flesh becoming soft 

 very soon after taken out of water, and becoming tainted in forty-eight 

 hours or less, even in the cool climate of Alaska. By the time the 

 fish has reached the rivers on its way to the spawning grounds, its 

 flesh has lost the little oil that it had, and is almost worthless as food. 

 Ouh" when caught some time before it would have entered the streams 

 is it fit for canning purposes. 



The humpback salmon carries the changes due to the spawning 

 period to an extravagant degree, the distortion of the jaws and the 

 development of the hump on the back being excessive and giving the 

 fish a remarkable appearance. It is the most abundant salmon among 

 the Alaskan islands, existing in millions, and swarming everywhere 

 along the shores and in waters near the sea, in streams, brooks, lakes, 

 swajiips, and brackish estuaries — in fact, in all places where a little 

 fresh water can be found. It does not ordinarily go far from shore, 

 and does not run up the stream for great distances. It does not fre- 

 quent the larger rivers, and is therefore almost unknown in the Sacra- 

 mento and Columbia, and even in the Fraser; but most of the smaller 

 rivers in Alaska are croAvded with humpbacks. On account of its 

 great abundance and the ease with which the fish is taken in nets of 

 any sort, it is exceedingly cheap in Alaska, the price paid the fisher- 

 men by the canneries being only $7.50 to $10 per thousand fish. 



Not until a few years ago was there much demand for the hump- 

 back for canning purposes, but as the canning establishments are 

 finding it more and more difiicult to fill their guarantee pack with red 

 salmon, the demand for the humpback has increased correspondingly. 

 The species is so abundant that there has never been the least difficult}'" 

 in supplying the demand. 



