570 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONEE OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



siuce it occurs up to their present limits, as well as in all Avaters along 

 with both of these, and without, as far as is known, doing them any seri- 

 ous injury. It is a slothful, sluggish fish, while the trout is lively and 

 j)articularly quick in its movements. I assume, therefore, that there 

 should be no hesitation in raising the perch along with trout and other 

 salmonoids, if one cares to cultivate this kind of fish and the oi)j)ortunity 

 to treat it by itself is wanting. The flesh is found by many, when prop- 

 erly i)repared, to be peculiarly well flavored, especially as a change from 

 other fish, and it is highly nourishing. With the necessary supply ot 

 food the perch reaches a considerable size, up to one and a half and two 

 kilograms ; but if one wishes to gain this size, care must be taken that 

 the fish obtain abundant nourishment from other smaller fishes of difli'er- 

 ent kinds. It spawns in spring. May to June, and is peculiarly fruitful. 



The genus of fish most closely related to this is the Peech Pike 

 {Lucioperca sandra), one of our largest lake-fishes, and also one of the 

 most savory ; it grows to a size of 12 kilograms and upwards. It is 

 found at present in only a few of our larger, least elevated lakes ; it is 

 not found in this country north of Oieren. As far as known, no one has 

 attempted to introduce it to other lakes, although there are a great number 

 of such in which it doubtless would thrive well. Since the fish is very- 

 little known, I shall state that its flesh is as white as the cod's, likewise 

 just as free from bones, and it is, although of a somewhat more decided 

 flavor most nearly like that of the turbot — rated by most persons who 

 know it just as highly as the best cod. Its natural place of resort shows 

 that this fish is not adapted to the colder, more elevated lakes, and that 

 on this account it cannot be expected to thrive where the conditions are 

 particularly favorable for the thriving of the trout. Since it is, besides, 

 a predaceous fish, which is considered more voracious than the perch, it 

 should not be bred together with trout or red char. While, on the con- 

 trary, the gwiniad remains more at the surface of the lake, while the 

 perch-pike, by preference, remains at the bottom, there can be no objec- 

 tion against j)lanting them in the same lake. That care must be taken 

 to supply suflQcient food, if one desires a rapid develoi^ment of this fish 

 to a suitable size, is self-evident. It spawns in spring, and is very fruit*- 

 ful. 



Of the soft-finned fishes, 1 will state that only one species will be 

 taken into consideration for cultivation, namely, the Pike {Esox lucius), 

 the most voracious of all our fresh-water predaceous fishes. It is con^- 

 paratively little distributed in our country ; generally it can be said to 

 be only in the eastern parts, where, it is true, it ascends in the great 

 rivers to a height of 250 to 300 metres above the sea in the Glommen ; 

 but in smaller lakes and in the larger western rivers it occurs scarcely 

 higher than 200 meters above the sea. In the whole southern and 

 western part of jSTorway it occurs in only a few places, where it ap- 

 pears to have been introduced, while in the eastern and northern por- 

 tions of the Scandinavian peninsula it is generally distributed far into 



