10 COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



THE LANDLOCKED SALMON. 



{Salmo salar sebago). 



Plate No. 1. 



The old salmon of the sea who begat thee long ago in these inland 

 waters became a backslider, descending again to the ocean, and grew 

 gross and heavy with coarse feeding. But thou, unsalted salmon of the 

 foaming floods, not land-locked as men call thee, but choosing of thine 

 own free will to dwell on a loftier level in the pure, swift current of a 

 living stream, hath groivn in grace and risen to a better life."- — Henry 

 Van Dyke. 



A Variety of the Atlantic Salmon. — The landlocked salmon is gen- 

 erally conceded, at the present time, to be a variety of the Atlantic 

 salmon (Salmo salar), and not a distinct species. In fact, so slight and 

 uncertain are the structural differences between the two forms, that 

 descriptive text books either avoid a statement or give only general 

 differences. Among these the most pronounced are: 



Absence, in the landlocked form, of the instinct to migrate to 

 the sea. 



The adult of the landlocked variety is smaller than the Atlantic 

 adult and resembles quite closely the "grilse" or adolescent stage of 

 the Atlantic salmon with the tail usually a little wider and the dorsal 

 or back fin somewhat higher. 



The coloring is a little more pronounced in the landlocked speci- 

 mens and when they are fresh from the water the sheen on the back 

 and sides is much greater. 



It has often been pointed out that the differences are such as might 

 have been brought about by a somewhat unnatural confinement in 

 fresh water. The usually accepted theory is that long ago some 

 natural phenomena barred the return of the salmon to the sea and 

 in consequence of this necessitated change of habits and environ- 

 ment, the differences between them and the parent form were brought 

 about. It is pointed out that the habits of the Atlantic salmon in 

 ascending as it does almost impassible falls in order to reach fresh 



