CHAPTER XIV. 



MANAGEMENT OF MATURE TROUT. 



Maturity considered How mature trout are dealt with The net Its use 

 Emptying the pond Business pond differs widely from a lake or river Trout 

 eating trout Sorting the fishFood The maggot factory Tadpole rearing 

 Frogs and Toads considered Trout get very tame Approach of spawning time 

 Can trout hear Do fishes sleep The senses of taste and smell Varieties of 

 colour and markings How many species Selection and crossing of races Trout 

 anadromous in New Zealand Reversion to type Square tail and forked tail. 



HTHE management of mature trout is a subject on which a book 

 might and probably will some day be written. A trout is 

 said to be " mature " when, according to its sex, it either sheds 

 its milt or deposits its ova. This has, I think, been the generally 

 accepted explanation of the term. It does not, however, quite 

 convey the idea that a fish culturist would have of maturity. I 

 have seen yearling trout (fairo; yield milt, and two-year-olds 

 sometimes yield ova. Neither of these fish are considered 

 mature, however, on a fish farm. Three-year-old females willjj Q* J 



spawn, but the eggs are small, and not so good as those from 

 older fish. It is in reality not until a female trout is four years old 



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that it is of much use to the cultivator. It then yields a return in 

 the shape of eggs which are worth having, but those from older 

 fish are better. 



We have traced the growth of the fish from the egg up to the 

 two-year-old stage, and when it passes beyond this it has done 

 with what is a very important part of its life history. I allude to 

 the time during .which it may be sent long distances at the proper 

 seasons of the year without, any special difficulty, a time, in fact, 

 during which Nature seems to have made special provision for 

 accommodating the wants of man. Up to two years of age trout 

 can easily be tranferred from one place to another, even though 

 the places are hundreds of miles apart. After that age the 

 difficulties and cost of transit increase so materially that larger 



