AN INQUIRY INTO THE FEASIBILITY OF INTRODUCING USEFUL 



MARINE ANIMALS INTO THE WATERS OF 



GREAT SALT LAKE. 



Bv H. F. Moore. 



From time to time persons interested in the development of tlie 

 resources of Utah have discussed the possibility of introducing into 

 Great Salt Lake fishes and other animals of economic value which 

 normally have their habitats in the salt and brackish waters of the sea 

 and its estuaries. The matter has been called to the attention of the 

 United States Fish Commission at frequent intervals, and some years 

 ago a provisional promise to investigate the lake was made, but until 

 1898 the opportunity to make the inquiry did not present itself. 



It occurred to the writer, while engaged in experiments in growing 

 oysters in claires, that it might be possible to find places near the 

 mouths of the rivers flowing into Great Salt Lake where the influx of 

 fresh water would mitigate the brininess of the lake sufficiently to make 

 the general conditions favorable for the introduction of that valuable 

 mollusk. It was recognized, of course, that the area which, even under 

 the best conditions, would be found to possess the requisite physical 

 characteristics could not be very extensive, and that there was little 

 hope of introducing marine fishes, for Great Salt Lake holds saltwater 

 of a density which could not be endured by ordinary marine organisms. 

 Where fresh water flows into the lake from the rivers there is formed 

 a narrow zone of a density ajjproaching that of the sea, lying between 

 the fresh water on the one hand and the salt on the other. This zone 

 occurs only near the mouths of streams, and its limits are so circum- 

 scribed as to allow but small latitude for the wanderings of fish and 

 other marine organisms possessing active powers of locomotion, and 

 they would be restricted therefore in the exercise of one of their most 

 important functions, and would be in constant danger of wandering 

 into the surrounding water where the conditions would be fatal. The 

 oyster, on the other hand, is a sessile organism, and, if its immediate 

 surroundings be favorable, a restricted area does not prohibit oyster 

 culture of a certain character, except in so much as it correspondingly 

 restricts the number of oysters which it is possible to raise. 



Influenced by these considerations, inquiry was made of persons 

 interested in the matter and resident in the vicinity of the lake, and 

 the replies indicated that there were certain places near the mouths of 

 the rivers where one might expect to find the fresh and salt waters 



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