CHAPTER V 



THE FEEDING OF THE SALMON AND GROWTH 

 OF THE GENITALIA 



Absence of food in salmon taken in fresh water — Feeding 

 habits of fry — Food of salmon in the sea — Nutriment in 

 tissues of estuary as against upper water fish — Transference 

 of nutriment from muscles to reproductive organs 



The scales and the signs of growth and of spawning, 

 as well as other points in the life of the salmon, are 

 intimately connected with the feeding and non-feed- 

 ing periods of the fish. 



It is recognised on, all hands that the stomach of 

 the salmon when taken in fresh water is invariably, 

 or all but invariably, empty. A further examination 

 also shows that the intestine is empty, and shows 

 no indication of nourishment having been taken for 

 some time previously ; and that the gall bladder is 

 collapsed. Hoek * in the lower Rhine examined 

 2000 salmon, and found food remains in only seven, 

 which were taken in the months of March and April 

 Meischer Ruesch t at Basle, 500 miles up the river, 

 examined 2162 salmon in four years in connection 



* Rapport over Statistische en biologische onderzockingen ingesteld 

 met behulp van in Nederland gevangen Zalmen. 



t Statistische und biologische Beitrjige. Zur Kenntniss von Leben 

 des Rheinlachses in Susswasser. (Metzger und Wittig, Leipzig, 1880.) 



