CHAPTER III. 



EGGS {AND ALEVINS. 



Sea-trout eggs and salmon eggs are so like each other in point of 

 size and colour that they cannot readily, if at all, be distinguished at a 

 glance. As it is the size of the individual specimen rather than the 

 species which, with these closely-related fish, determines the size of 

 the egg, the sea-trout eggs, like the sea-trout themselves, are generally 

 but not invariably the smaller. The same determining cause holding 

 good, it will be found that trout eggs in general are smaller than sea- 

 trout eggs. As a rough indication of size it may be said that four 

 salmon eggs placed in a row almost exactly occupy the space of one 

 inch, sea-trout eggs on the average rather less, and trout eggs again less, 

 although five of either of the latter will generally exceed the inch. 



I have found that twenty-six salmon eggs laid in line occupy 

 exactly the space of six inches, but I have seen an equal space occupied 

 by the same number of es^gs of a well-developed sea-trout of only 

 2^ lb. weight. It has been said, though I can neither confirm nor 

 disprove the statement, that the eo-crs of spring salmon are larger at 

 spawning time than those of autumn fish. The point does not seem to 

 be material with respect to sea-trout eggs. 



The colour of the eggs of salmon, and of most sea-trout, when they 

 are first shed, is a rich salmon pink, but on fertilisation they become 

 immediately slightly paler and more opalescent. In one respect 

 salmon eggs differ wholly from those of sea-trout and trout. The 

 colour of the former does not seem to vary at all according to localitv 

 or the breed of the parents, but there is a wide range of distinctive 

 colouration in the eggs of sea-trout and trout. They may var\' from a 

 pale yellow to a dark rich p'"k according to the locality of the breedincf 



