114 



SALMON 



obstruction, even if they are offered most ample 

 pecuniary compensation for loss of amenity or in- 

 jury to a Tine tailing pool below tbe falls. A pretty 

 exKanstive account of all the natural obstructions, 

 in the shape of waterfalls, on the salmon-rivers of 

 Scotlnnil will be found in the 6th Annual Report 

 by the Inspector of Salmon-fisheries, pp. 30-68. 



As the time of spawning approaches salmon 

 undergo considerable changes of colour, besides the 

 change of form already noticed in the snout of the 

 male. The former brilliancy of the hues gives 

 place to a general duskiness, approaching to black- 

 ness in the females, much tinged with red in the 

 males ; and the cheeks of the males liecome marked 

 with orange stripes. Salmon in this state are ' foul 

 fish,' being considered unfit for the table, and the 

 killing of them is prohibited by British laws, not- 

 withstanding which, however, multitudes are 

 killed by poachers in some of the rivers, nor do 

 those who eat them either fresh or ' kippered' (Le. 

 dried) seem to suffer from any unwholesomem-". 

 Salmon which have completed their spawning con- 

 tinue for some time, at least if in fresh water, 

 very unfit for the table. Their capture is prohibited 

 by British laws. They are called 'foul fish,' or 

 more distinctively, 'spent fish,' or Kelts; the 

 males are also called Kippers, kip l>eing a name for 

 the cartilaginous hook of the under jaw, whilst 

 the females are known as Shedders or Bagyitt. 

 When they remain for a considerable time in fresh 

 water after spawning kelts recover very much, and 

 increase in weight. 



The time of spawning is from the end of autumn 

 to the beginning of spring, or even the beginning 

 of summer ; differing considerably in different 

 rivers, whilst in each river it is prolonged through- 

 out months, the elder and stronger fish of the 

 former year probably ascending to spawn first. 

 The difference of season in different rivers is prob- 

 ably to be accounted for by the temperature of the 

 water, as affected by latitude, and by the relations 

 of the river to lakes, to low warm plains, and to 

 enow-covered mountains. 



Salmon spawn on beds of fine gravel, in shallow 

 parts of rivers, such as are used for the same pur- 

 pose by trout. Some beds of this kind, in salmon- 

 freqnented rivers, have been notable from time 

 immemorial as favourite spawning-places ; and 

 large numbers of fish, lx>th the salmon and its 

 congeners, deposit their spawn in them every year. 

 The spawning female approaches the bed, attended 

 by at least one male fish, sometimes by more than 

 one, in which case fierce combats ensue ; she makes 

 a furrow in the gravel with her tail, and deposits 

 her spawn in it, on which the male afterwards 

 pours the vivifying milt. It was formerly believed, 

 but erroneously, that the furrow was in part 

 made by the snout of the fish. The eggs, when 

 deposited and vivified, are covered by the action 



Fig. 5. 

 Old Hale Fish, or Kipper, during the spawning season. 



of the tail of the female ; the male doing nothing 

 but depositing his milt, and lighting with any other 

 of his sex that may attempt to dispute his place. 

 The time occupied by a female salmon in spawn- 

 ing in from thrw to twelve days. After spawning 

 the salmon generally soon descends to the sea. 



The descending kelti are very ravenous, and there- 

 fore a great annoyance to anglers who desire to 

 take none but clean lish, and must return the kelt 

 to the water. 



Tin- eggs deposited in the spawning beds are 

 liable to lie devoured by trout* and other fishes, 

 and by insect larva? of many kinds : ducks and 

 other waterfowl also search in the gravel for 

 tlieir food ; and sometimes a Hood changes the 

 bed so much as either to sweep away the eggs 

 or to overlay them with gravel to a depth where 

 they are never hatched, or from which the youni> 

 can never emerge. The number of eggs hatch. >1 

 in ordinary circumstances must lie small in propor- 

 tion to the number deposited, and by far the 

 greater part of the fry perish before the time of 

 descent to the sea. 



In from thirty to sixty days after the deposition 

 of the eggs in the spawning bed they liegin to 

 show signs of life, and the eyes appear as small 



Fig. 6. Salmon Ova, and newly-hatched Fish : 

 1, egg of salmon, natural size, just taken from the parent fish ; 

 2, same with eyes of young fish just becoming apparent 

 (itoth-ssth day); 8, young flan just ready to be hatched; 

 4, young tlsli cuH'rKin^ from the shell; 6. empty egg-shell ; 

 6, young salmon about two days old, natural size ; 7, same 

 magnilied, showing the umbilical vesicle. 



specks. The time which elapses before the egg is 

 hatched varies according to the temperature of the 

 water, and therefore is generally shorter in Eng- 

 land than in Scotland, I4U days being sometimes 

 requisite in cold climates ami late springs ; but 

 from 90 to 120 days is the usual term. A teinnera- 

 ture above 70 F. is, however, fatal to the Sal mo 

 salar, though the Pacific salmon can stand a 

 higher temperature. Salmon eggs are easily 

 hatched in an aquarium in which proper care is 

 taken to prevent stagnation of the water Frank 

 Buckland descrilics the methods in his Fish-liatch- 

 fnn(1863). 



The young fish lies coiled up in the egg, which 

 it finally hursts in its struggles to be free, and it 

 issues with a conical bag ( umbilical vesicle) sus- 

 pended under the lielly, containing the red yolk of 

 the egg and oil globules, which afford it nourish- 

 ment during the lirst five nr six weeks. The mouth 

 is at first very imperfectly developed, as are the 

 fins, and the whole oody lias a shape very different 

 from what it is soon to assume, ana is very delicate 

 and almost transparent. The slightest injury i 

 fatal. The length, at first, is alx>ut live-eighths of 

 an inch. About the seventh or eighth week the 

 young salmon has changed into a well-formed little 

 fish almut an inch long, with forked tail, the colour 

 light brown, with nine or tn transverse dusky 

 bars, which are also more or less distinctly visible 

 in the young of other species of this genus, just as 

 the young of many feline animals exhibit stripes 

 or spots which disappear in their mature state. 

 The fry, previously inactive, now Itegin to swim 



