Trout Breeding. 61 



best to take the eggs of such fishes as are ready to 

 spawn on that day, leaving all others for a future day. 

 The lake trout, improperly called "salmon trout," S\ 

 namayciish, spawn at night, and as they often live in 

 the same lakes, and sometimes have their spawning 

 grounds in common with the brook trout, their differ- 

 ent hours of spawning prevent hybridizing, far milt is 

 sterile after being in water a few minutes. 



In taking eggs from a covered raceway we dropped 

 a screen at the lower end, threw off the covers and 

 netted the fish into tubs of water for examination and 

 assorting. The males are put together, the females 

 that appear to be ripe go in other tubs, while those not 

 nearly ripe are returned to the pond. The ripe female 

 has a soft abdomen and the vent is swollen, protruding 

 and red. Here is the delicate point : to judge the 

 amount of pressure needed to start the eggs. Her tail 

 is taken in the left hand and bent upward, the right 

 hand holding the head with a grip of thumb and the 

 three last fingers on the bony arch back of the gills ; 

 the forefinger is then free to stroke the abdomen. Often 

 the bending of the back will start the flow of eggs; if 

 not, then it may require several light strokes to start 

 them ; but if the trout is not fully ripe she must be kept 

 a day or two more, for if much force is used she is apt 

 to die, and while some of her eggs may be ripe enough 

 to be impregnated, they will produce embryos, which 

 will either die in the egg or live along in a feeble man- 

 ner and amount to nothing, few surviving the absorp- 

 tion of the sac. 



THE MALE TROUT in spawning time has a bright red 

 belly and is slim in comparison. He need not be han- 

 dled as carefully as his mate with her burden. The 

 milt of one male is often sufficient for half a dozen 



