SALMON— COLOURS AND VARIETIES. . 65 



fomale tlian in tlie male. The dorsal, caudal, and pectoral fins grayisli black : ventral 

 and anal white, the former grayish internally. Prior to entering fresli waters 

 salmon are of a brilliant steel blue along the back which becomes changed to a 

 muddy tinge after they have remained in rivers. When these fish have passed into 

 fresh waters for the purpose of breeding, numerous orange streaks appear in the 

 cheeks of the male, and also spots, or even marks of the same, and likewise of a 

 red colour on the body. It is then termed a " red-fish." The female, however, 

 is dark in colour and known as a " black-fish." In fjrilse the pectoral fins arc 

 often of a bluer colour than in large salmon. Smolts are bluish along the upper 

 half of the body, silvery along the sides, due to a layer of silvery pigment being 

 formed on the under surface of the scales, while they have darker fins than 

 the yearling pink but have similar lateral bands and spots which can be seen 

 as in the par if the example is held in certain positions of light. Par have 

 two or three black spots only on the opercle : also black spots and orange ones 

 along the upper half of the body but usually no dark ones below the lateral-line, 

 although there may be orange ones along its coiirse. On the side of the body are 

 a series (11 to 1.5) transverse bluish bands wider than the ground colour and 

 crossing the lateral-line, while in the upper half of the body the darker silvery 

 colour of the back often forms an arch over each of these bands. A row of spots 

 exists along the middle of the rayed dorsal fin, the adipose is leaden coloured, and, 

 in rare instances, after death or under peculiar circumstances lias a narrow 

 orange tip.* 



Varieties. — Although among the Britisli SalinonidcE, when not kept in any 

 unnatural condition, the salmon is perhaps the form in which the fewest 

 variations are seen, still some, affecting either its shape or else its colour, are 

 occasionally present. 



In form. — Ai-e more commonly perceived among the young artificially hatched, 

 two or even more heads may be found, one with three heads was born in the 

 spring of 1879, but as soon as the yolk sac was absorbed the fish died {Anglers' 

 Note Boole, p. 79). Arrests of development, as of the upper or under jaw, of one 

 or more fins, or other portions of the body, or spinal curvatures are occasionally 

 observed. It may be mentioned that a few fish salesmen and some fishermen believe 

 they can tell from external appearances the river the various salmon have come 

 from. Salmo argentcus, Gunthcr,t is a kelt-like form, its elongated condition 

 probably owing to disease or starvation, possibly the latter as it had been kept in 

 a fresh-water pond. Another form is Salmo gracilis, Couch, examples of which I 

 had the opportunity of examining at Teignmouth and Torquay in 1882 and 1883. J 

 In colour. — Occasionally quite brown salmon are captured in fresh waters, 

 especially towards the close of the season, which woiild appear to be due to a 

 prolonged fresli- water residence. Mr. Ffennell recorded having taken them of a 

 copper colour in the early lakes having the ova not very far advanced. 



Opinions differ as to whether local races of salmon. § distinguished by well 



time, age, and locality. At Howietoun the grilse raised and kept in fresh water are more spotted 

 than those which have visited the estuaries or seas. 



* Young Lochleven trout have tlieir adipose fins usually without a trace of orange in them. 



f The spots on the head, dorsal tin, and body are more what is generally seen on Salmo tnitia 

 or a grilse reared in fresh water, otherwise the fish is identical with S. salar, but reliable 

 characters would scarcely be expected to be well marked in a fish either ill or nearly starved, 

 anyhow as lean and lanky as a kelt. 



J In a male were 61 and in a female were 71 ca?cal ai^pendages : their flesh was rather pink, 

 and as food they were not so rich as salmon from northern rivers, while they are said sometunes 

 to be hard, woolly, and deficient in the curdled richness that is present between the flakes of 

 fresh-run Severn salmon. The reason why these fishes are of this elongated description is 

 locally said to have first been due to the river having been poisoned with mine water, and it 

 seems to be generally believed that this has been the cause of the present interior race. 

 As already observed, great difl'erences are seen in these fishes : thus, a salmon .50 V inches long was 

 netted in the Severn, near Worcester, in June, 1884, which weighed 50^ lb., while a short time 

 previously one was taken in the same place 48 inches long, which only weighed 35 lb. In the 

 Tay, July, 1886, one 53 inches long weighed 64 lb., and in March an Irish fish 34 inches long 

 weighed 14j lb. 



§ In the Iie>)ort of the Salmon Coriiminsion for 1824, Mr. James Wilson asserted of the North and 



