12 PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 
SILVER OR COHO SALMON. 
The silver or coho salmon (0. kisutch) is silvery in spring, green- 
ish on the upper parts, where there are a few faint black spots. In 
the fall the males are mostly of a dirty red. The flesh in this species 
is of excellent flavor, but paler in color than the red salmon, and 
hence less valued for canning purposes. 
This species has a maximum weight of about 30 pounds, with a 
general average of about 6 pounds. 
The silver salmon is found as far south as Monterey Bay, where 
it appears during the month of July and is taken by the trollers. 
From Eel River, in California, north, it is found in most of the 
coastal streams. It usually appears in July and runs as late as 
November, the time of appearance and disappearance varying some- 
what in different sections. Owing to its late appearance compara- 
tively few, and they usually in the early part of the season, are 
packed by the canneries, most of which shut down in July and August. 
This fish also tarries but a short time about the mouth of the stream 
it is to enter, and is wary of nets, which makes it rather, unprofitable 
to fish for the latter part of the season when it is running alone. 
HUMPBACK OR PINK SALMON. 
The humpback or pink salmon (0. gorbuscha) is the smallest of 
the American species, weighing from 3 to 11 pounds, the average 
being about 4 pounds. In color it is bluish above, silvery below, the 
posterior and upper parts with many round black spots, the caudal 
fin always having a few large black spots, oblong in shape. The 
males in fall are dirty red and are very much distorted in shape, a 
decided hump appearing on the back, from which deformity the 
species acquires its name. The flesh is softer than in the other 
species; it is pale in color, hence its canned name, ‘‘ pink” salmon. 
The southern limit: of the fish is the Sacramento River, but only 
occasional specimens are found here and in the rivers to the north- 
ward until Puget Sound is reached. Here a large run appears every 
other year, the only place on the coast where such is the case. 
The humpback occurs in varying abundance in the waters of Brit- 
ish Columbia, but -it is in the waters of southeast Alaska that it ap- 
pears in its greatest abundance. Many of the canneries in this region 
depend mainly upon the humpback for their season’s pack, and the 
canned product now occupies an excellent position in the markets of 
the world. The fish spawn in nearly all of the small, short streams. 
In central and western Alaska the runs are much smaller and the 
humpback is not much sought after by the cannery: men, who are 
usually able to fill their cans with the more valuable species. 
In southeast Alaska the run begins in June and continues until 
September, or even later insome places. In western Alaska the period 
is somewhat shorter. In Puget Sound it continues until late in the fall. 
