PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES, ; 7 
Five species of salmon (Oncorhynchus) are found in the waters 
of the north Pacific, ranging northward from Monterey Bay on 
the American coast and Japan on the Asiatic, the extreme northern 
distribution of certain of the species having not yet been accurately 
determined. The five species are: (1) Oncorhynchus tschawytscha, 
quinnat, tyee, chinook, spring, or king salmon; (2) Oncorhynchus 
nerka, blueback, red, sukkegh, or sockeye salmon; (3) Oncorhynchus 
kisutch, silver, coho, or white salmon; (4) Oncorhynchus keta, dog, 
keta, or chum salmon; and (5) Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, humpback or 
pink salmon. 
CHINOOK, QUINNAT, OR KING SALMON. 
The largest, best known, and most valuable of these is the chinook 
or king salmon (O. ischawytscha). It is found throughout the region 
from the Ventura River, Calif., to Norton Sound, Alaska, and on the 
Asiatic coast as far south as northern China. As knowledge extends, 
it will probably be recorded in the Arctic. 
In the spring the body is silvery, the back, dorsal fin, and caudal 
fin having more or less of round black spots, and the sides of the 
head having a peculiar tin-colored metallic luster. In the fall the 
color is, in some places, black or dirty red. The fish has an average 
weight of about 22 pounds, but individuals weighing 70 to over 100 
pounds are occasionally taken. One was caught near Klawak, 
Alaska, in 1909, which weighed 101 pounds without the head. The 
Yukon River is supposed to produce the finest examples, although 
this supposition is not based on very reliable observations. The 
southeast Alaska fish average as high as 23 pounds in certain sea- 
sons, followed by an average of about 22 pounds in the Columbia 
River and about 16 pounds in the Sacramento. 
In most places the flesh is of a deep salmon red, but in certain 
laces, notably southeast Alaska, Bristol Bay, Puget Sound, and 
ritish Columbia, many of the fish, the proportion being sometimes 
as much as one-third of the catch, have white flesh. A few examples 
have been taken with one side of the body red and the other white, 
while some are found with mottled flesh. No reasonable explanation 
of this phenomenon has yet been given. 
In its southern range the quinnat strikes in at Monterey Bay in 
sufficient numbers to justify commercial fishing about the middle of 
Apri, where it is seen feeding upon the inshore moving schools of 
herring and sardines, continuing until in August. There are two 
runs of spawning fish in the Sacramento, the first or ‘‘spring run”’ 
beginning in April and continuing throughout May and June, these 
fish spawning mainly in the cold tributaries of the Sacramento, such 
as the McCloud and Fall Rivers. The second or ‘‘fall run” occurs 
in August, September, and October, and these fish spawn in the 
riffles in the main river between Tehama and Redding, also entering 
the tributaries in that vicinity. The two runs merge into each other. 
It is also claimed that there 1s a third run which comes in December. 
In former years the San Joaquin and the American and Feather 
Rivers of the Sacramento system had large runs of salmon, but ex- 
cessive fishing and the operation of various mining and irrigation 
projects have practically depleted them. 
The Eel and Mad Rivers of northern California have only a late 
or fall run, while the Klamath River has both a spring and a fall 
