PISCES 



caught as it enters the Columbia and other rivers of the Pacific coast by 

 various mechanical contrivances; it is caught by the ton and is largely 

 canned, on the spot. In 1908 the salmon fisheries were estimated at 

 $10,500,000. This wholesale destruction of these animals on the way 

 to their breeding grounds would doubtless long ago have seriously 

 impaired the business but for the work of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. 

 The remarkable life of this fish is too well known to need more than a 

 mention here how it leaves the sea as sexual maturity approaches, 

 ascends the rivers, often for hundreds of miles, swimming rapids, 

 jumping water-falls and overcoming astonishing obstacles until it 

 reaches the quiet protected headwaters where the eggs may be deposited 

 in safety; how the adults, wasted and torn by their long foodless journey, 

 die without ever regaining their native ocean; how the eggs hatch into 

 the tiny fish that gradually work their way down-stream, feeding as they 

 go, until they reach the ocean as vigorous young salmon, able to dart 

 about and escape the many enemies of the deep; and how these young 

 salmon remain in the sea until they, in turn, have reached sexual 

 maturity, when some mysterious impulse impels them to leave the 

 ocean and ascend the rivers to certain death, that their kind maybe 

 perpetuated. It is a wonderful illustration of the way nature often 

 sacrifices the individual for the good of the race. 



Swordfishes, Fig. 84, are an interesting, though not a very important 

 group. They are the largest of the teleost fishes sometimes reaching a 

 length of 12 or 15 feet. The flat, blade-like snout which gives 

 them their name is a very effective weapon, with which they are said 

 to attack and kill whales; and it has been frequently reported that they 

 have punctured the bottoms of small wooden boats, possibly mistaking 

 them for their cetacean enemies, though why they should attack a 

 whale at all is not clear. Swordfish "steaks" are a common article 

 of diet in New England and elsewhere, and while perhaps not so delicate 

 as some of the smaller fish, they are excellent food. A common method 

 of capture of these large fish, which can cut their way out of an ordinary 

 net, is to harpoon them from a small platform fixed on the bowsprit of a 

 small sailing or power boat; it is a form of sport requiring both patience 

 and great skill. 



The sturgeons, Fig. 85, are the largest of the freshwater fishes of the 

 northern hemisphere where they occur. They may reach a length of 

 10 feet and are covered with hard, bony plates. Their flesh is used as 



