65 



northward at least to the Bristol Bay region. In the streams 

 it can be readily taken with various baits, and greatly in- 

 creases the pleasures of angling. As a food-lish its quality 

 is excellent, and it reaches a weight of 20 pounds or more. 

 The species is black-spotted, the spots being larger and 

 less numerous in Alaskan individuals than in most of the 

 varieties which range southward in the Rocky Mountain 

 region. The crimson streak around the throat is a conspic- 

 uous characteristic color-mark in all the many forms of 

 this well-known trout. 



Before passing to a review of the Pacific salmons we must 

 recall the fact that Alaska has a bountiful supply of small 

 lishes which are closely related to the Salmonidce. 



A true smelt (Plate V, tig. 14) and two kinds of surf- 

 smelt (Plate Y, tig. 15), are among the common fishes, the 

 tirst being a food-fish of considerable value. The capelin 

 (Plate yi, iig. 16), abounds on all parts of the coast, and 

 is one of the most important food species of the cod and 

 salmon. The eulachon, or candle-fish, is extremely abun- 

 dant in southern Alaska, and is considered one of the finest 

 pan-iishes known. A kind of fat is expressed from it 

 which the Indians use as a substitute for butter, and some 

 pharmacists in the place of cod-liver oil. The species is so 

 full of oil that when dried it will burn with a bright flame, 

 so that when the overworked Indian has flnished a bounti- 

 ful supper of flsh— doubtless procured and prepared for 

 him entirely by his frivolous wife— he needs merely to 

 touch a match to the tail of a dried eulachon and light 

 himself to bed. In addition to their value directly as food 

 for man, these allies of the salmon play a very important 

 part in attracting the larger commercial fishes of the salmon 

 family to certain localities. 



The largest and finest of the Alaskan salmon is the king, 

 or chowichee, known also as the Takou, Columbia River, 

 chinnook, and quinnat (Plate VI, fig. 17). This valuable fish 



