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SALMON. (Salmo galar.) This well- 

 known fish, BO highly esteemed for its de- 

 licacy of flavour, and so important in a 

 commercial sense, is one of the largest and 

 most plentiful species of the Salmonidce, or 

 Salmon and Trout tribe, a family of fishes 

 belonging to the Malacopterygii Abdomi- 

 nales. They have the body covered with 

 scales, and are characterized by having all 

 the rays of the first dorsal tin soft or jointed, 

 and the second dorsal entirely adipose : they 

 are generally very muscular, and possessed 

 of great strength ; and they are voracious 

 in their habits, feeding rather upon insects 

 and small Crustacea than upon other fishes. 

 The common Salmon (Salmo galar) is chiefly 

 an inhabitant of the northern temperate 

 regions, where it occurs at different periods 

 both in salt and fresh waters ; quitting the 



sea at certain seasons to deposit its spawn in 

 the gravelly beds of rivers, at a great dis- 

 tance from their mouths. It grows to the 

 length of three, four, or five feet, and is usu- 

 ally about ten or twelve pounds when taken ; 

 but the full-grown Salmon averages a weight 

 of between twenty and thirty pounds. 

 Enormous specimens, however, are now and 

 then captured : sometimes weighing forty 

 or fifty pounds ; and it is a faet that, in 

 1821, a Salmon was exhibited in a fish- 

 monger's shop in London (Mr. Grove's of 

 Bond Street), weighing eighty-three pounds. 

 I It was a female fish, of extraordinary thick- 

 ness, good colour, and excellent quality. 

 The body of the Salmon is elongated and 

 compressed ; the colour a dark blue, dotted 

 I with black spots on the back ; silvery gray 

 j on the sides with spots, and white with 

 a faint shade of pink below ; the head of 

 moderate size, and the upper jaw rather 

 the longest. Almost all parts of the mouth 

 are furnished with pointed teeth. The usual 

 time at which the Salmon leaves the sea, is 

 the autumn ; it remains in the rivers during 

 the winter ; and returns to the sea after 

 having deposited the spawn, in the spring. 

 In ascending rivers there are scarcely any 

 obstacles which these fish will not surmount : 

 they will force themselves against the most 

 rapid streams, and spring with amazing 

 agility over cataracts of ten or twelve feet 

 in height. On this account, small cascades 

 on the Tweed, the Severn, and other rivers 

 where they resort, are called Salmon-leaps. 

 If alarmed, they dart away with such velo- 

 city that the eye can scarcely follow them. 

 They penetrate far into the interior of the 

 continents, and deposit their spawn near the 

 head- waters of the longest rivers ; but before 

 depositing it, the Salmon makes a furrow 

 in the gravelly bed of the river ; and its 

 eggs, when deposited in this, are carefully 

 covered up. When the young are about a 

 foot in length, they descend the rivers, and 

 take refuge in the ocean. Late in the fol- 



lowing spring, or the beginning of summer, 

 and after the old ones have ascended, the 

 young again enter the rivers, and are then 

 about eighteen inches in length. They 

 again seek the ocean on the return of frosts. 

 At two years old the Salmon weighs six or 

 eight pounds, and generally requires five or 

 six years to attain the weight of ten or 

 twelve. 



In Mr. Tarreirs excellent work on British 

 Fishes, much information is given, both with 

 respect to the habits of those which resort 

 to our rivers and the various modes of taking 

 them. " The adult fish having spawned, 

 being out of condition, and unfit for food, 

 are considered as unclean fish. They are 

 usually called Kelts; the male fish is also 

 called a Kipper, the female a Shetkler, or 

 Daoffit. With the floods of the end of winter 

 and the commencement of spring they de- 

 scend the river from pool to pool ; and 

 ultimately gain the sea, where they quickly 

 recover their condition, to ascend again in 

 autumn for the same purpose as before ; 

 but always remaining for a time in the 

 brackish water of the tide-way before mak- 

 ing either decided change ; obtaining, it has 

 been said, a release from certain parasitic 

 animals, either external or internal, by each 

 seasonal change ; those of the salt water 

 being destroyed by contact with the fresh, 

 and vice verA." u The Salmon fry at first 

 keep in the slack water by the sides of the 

 river ; after a time, as they become stronger, 

 they go more towards the mid-stream ; and 

 when the water is increased by rain, they 

 move gradually down the river. On meet- 

 ing the tide, they remain for two or three 

 days in that part where the water becomes a 

 little brackish from the mixture of salt 

 water, till they are inured to the change, 

 when they go off to the sea all at once. 

 There, their growth appears to be very 

 rapid, and many return to the brackish 

 water, increased in size in proportion to the 

 time they have been absent." M It has been 

 a constantly received opinion, that all the 

 young fish after their first visit to the sea 

 return to the rivers in which they had been 

 bred ; and numbers of marked fish are stated 

 to have been retaken in their native rivers : 

 but it is equally certain that some have 

 been taken in other rivers not far off. The 

 difficulty of supposing that they could find 

 and return to the same spot after roving for 

 miles along the coast remains to be solved. 

 That they do thus rove for miles is proved 

 by the thousands that are taken in nets 

 placed in the ibays along the coast." The 

 flesh of the Salmon is of a bright orange 

 colour when raw, redder when salted, and a 

 little paler when boiled j as a food it is rich, 

 tender, and sweet ; it is, however, considered 

 to be difficult of digestion, and should be 

 eaten as early as possible after its capture, 

 it being very unwholesome when stale. This, 

 indeed, may be remarked of all the Sal- 

 monidce. The principal Salmon fisheries in 

 Europe are in the rivers, or on the sea-coasta 

 adjoining the mouths of the large rivers of 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland. The Tweed 

 is the most famous river for Salmon fishing, 

 and prodigious quantities are caught there : 



