8 ARTIFICIAL. PROPAGATION OF PACIFIC SALMONS. 



pecially important in the Fraser Eiver and in Alaska. The color of 

 the flesh is a rich red, which persists after canning. Large quanti- 

 ties are canned on Puget Sound, in British Columbia, and in Alaska, 

 and its commercial value to that territory is indicated by the fact 

 that during the calendar year 1916 the total pack on the Pacific 

 coast amounted to 2,432,048 cases. Of this total 2,119,442 cases were 

 put up in Alaska, at a valuation of $13,147,994. Comparatively few 

 red salmon are sold fresh in the United States. 



It is next to the smallest of the salmons, the maximum weight 

 being 12 pounds, but it seldom attains a weight of over 6 pounds in 

 any instance.'* 



It ranges from Columbia River, Wash., to the far north. In gen- 

 eral it ascends only such rfvers as rise in glacial and snow-fed lakes. 

 Practically nothing is known of its ocean life. Straggling speci- 

 mens occur in the Quinault River late in December. It ascends the 

 Columbia Eiver in June and July, and at Kocliak Island it comes 

 in numbers in June. There the heaviest run is in June and July, 

 spawning occurring in August and September. In the Fraser River 

 the largest runs enter during July and August, and in the water- 

 shed of this river spawning occurs from late October to the end of 

 December, being at its maxunum during November. Quinault and 

 Baker Lakes, together with their tributaries, may be considered 

 typical spawning grounds for this fish in the United States, and in 

 those regions the spawning season extends from early September to 

 late December. 



The individuals of this species enter only such streams as have 

 lakes at their headwaters, usually reaching the vicinity of the latter 

 several weeks in advance of spawning time. Many of them deposit 

 their eggs along the lake shores in depths of from 1 to 12 feet of 

 water. Others ascend the creeks or rivers flowing into the lakes and 

 spawn on the riffles in a way similar to that of the chinook salmon. 

 The average number of eggs per fish ranges from 2,500 to 3,000. 

 Except in the breeding season, the color is a clear, bright blue above, 

 with silvery sides and belly. At spawning time the body becomes 

 blood red and the head light gi^een. The male loses his symmetrical 

 form and develops an extravagantly hooked jaw. 



HUMPBACK SALMON. 



The humpback salmon {Oncorhynchus gorhuscha) is the smallest 

 of the Pacific salmons, its average weight being only 5 pounds and 

 its maximum rarely 9. Its range is from Puget Sound northward, 

 probably as far as the Mackenzie River, and it is also common on 

 the Asiatic coast. The southernmost spawning record is in the San 

 Lorenzo River at Santa Cruz, Calif. In Alaska it is the most abun- 

 dant and generally distributed of the salmons, and in that region 

 there is an annual run of the species. In Pug^et Sound waters, how- 

 ever, it makes its appearance in numbers only in alternate years. No 

 satisfactory explanation as to the cause of this phenomenon has been 



« So-called landlocked forms occurring in various lakes weigh only one-half pound 

 when mature. They are commonly referred to as little redflsh and have long been re- 

 garded as merely dwarfed forms of the anadromous species. At one time they were be- 

 lieved to ascend "also from the sea ; later it was conclusively proved that they are perma- 

 nent residents of fresh water, and there is strong evidence that they constitute one or 

 more distinct species. 



