59 



unlike its big relative, it spawns cliiefly in lakes. We 

 have traced it with certainty as far north as the Yukon. It 

 is said that the sjDecies will not enter a river which does 

 not arise from a lake, and abounds only in snow-fed 

 streams. 



The marine life of the Alaskan salmon is unknown from 

 the time the young, in their newly-acquired silvery dress, 

 leave the fresh-water nursery to become salt-water sailors, 

 until they have ended their cruise, obtained their liberty, 

 and come ashore, when, as in the case of so many other 

 salt-water sailors, their serious trouble begins. Salmon 

 remain in fresh-water until the second or third spring of 

 their existence, and, not having a bountiful suj^ply of 

 food, they grow very slowly, and seldom exceed eight 

 inches in length when they start seaward. In the ocean 

 they feed on the capelin, the herring, and a small needle- 

 shaped fish called the lant. They are reputed also to 

 consume large quantities of pink-lleshed crustaceans, and 

 derive from them their attractive color. Opposed to this 

 theory is the fact that many other sea-fishes whose food 

 consists almost entirely of such crustaceans are never 

 pink-fleshed. 



There is no flshery at sea for any of the Pacific salmons 

 as there is in the Baltic for the Atlantic salmon. After 

 the great schools have broken uj) and the scattered fish 

 come into the bays, some of the species can be caught on a 

 herring-baited hook by trolling. 



The king and silver salmon are captured in this way. As 

 a rule the fish remain at sea until they are about ready to 

 deposit their eggs, and then they approach the coast in 

 great masses. A few young males accompany the schools 

 every year, and may or may not return to sea without 

 entering the rivers. The adult fish come ujd from the sea 

 at a certain time of the year, the king-salmon arriving 

 first in the month of May in Southern Alaska and about 



