Prince. — The Red Flesh of the Salmons 57 



The lake trout, gray trout or Togue, exhibit great va- 

 riation even in the same lakes and on the same fishing 

 grounds, but some waters are characterized by white- 

 fleshed trout; these latter being as healthy, well-fed and 

 well-flavored as the fish from lakes in which the trout 

 are uniformly tinted pink or red. 



If we compare the various Pacific with the Atlantic 

 Salmon, the latter, it may be said, are generally paler. 

 Yet no one would claim, I think, that the Atlantic Sal- 

 mon is inferior to any of the Pacific species in edible 

 qualities, flavor, texture or delicacy; indeed most people 

 would affirm that the Atlantic Salmon, the Labrador, 

 Saguenay, Gaspe, Restigouche, Miramichi, St. John, or 

 other fine Canadian fish, are very much superior. More- 

 over, these Atlantic fish differ in the color of the flesh 

 locally, and some practical fishermen claim that they can 

 determine the river from which a fish comes not only by 

 its shape, average size, and build; but by the color, tex- 

 ture, and special flavor, of the meat. As there are white 

 grapes which are just as good as red or rich black grapes, 

 so the white-fleshed salmon and trout may be quite equal 

 to the deeply tinted varieties. An hotel proprietor in- 

 formed me recently that if red trout or salmon, and 

 pale-fleshed trout or salmon, were placed on the same 

 tables, the guests, without exception, would choose the 

 deep colored fish, and would declare that it was superior 

 in flavor. On the other hand, sweet corn, if white (or 

 even bleached artificially), would also be pronounced 

 better and more delicate than the yellow-colored corn. 

 This shows how small is the value of popular opinion, 

 while the shade of red, or the tint, of the flesh, would 

 seem in so many salmon and trout to be very erratic, 

 there is general agreement that after spawning, all red- 

 fleshed specimens are paler, the colored oily matter pass- 

 ing, it is contended, to the eggs. 



Color Transferred to Eggs. 



No very exact observations are on record, however, 

 but this deterioration can hardly take place in the male 



