FISH OF ONTARIO. 55 



Colour, bluish above; sides and below silvery; usual)}- a dark blotch 

 behind opercle and often several in a row behind this ; peritoneum pale. 



The Shad is an anadromous fish which passes most of its life in the 

 ocean, migrating annually up the rivers for the purpose of spawning in 

 the spring. It was formerly abundant in the lower Ottawa, but has 

 abandoned that river and its occurrence within our boundaries .is- now only 

 accidental. 



As a food fish it ranks very high, being one of the most esteemed fish 

 of America. 



Family SALMON I D.^i. (The Salmons.) 



Body oblong or elongate, covered with cycloid scales. Head naked. 

 Mouth terminal, large or small, varying much in the different genera; 

 maxillary forming the lateral margin of the upper jaw, provided with a 

 supplemental bone ; premaxillaries not protractile. Teeth various, some- 

 times wanting. Gills four, a slit behind the fourth. Pseudobranchia- 

 present. Gill rakers various ; gill membranes not connected, free from the 

 isthmus ; branchiostegals ten to twenty. No barbels. Dorsal usually 

 nearly median, not greatly elongate, its rays nine to fifteen, only one or 

 two of the anterior simple or rudimentary, the others branched ; adipose 

 fin present; caudal fin forked; anal fin moderate or rather long; ventrals 

 moderate, nearly median ; pectorals placed low. Lateral line present. 

 Abdomen rounded in outline. Parietals not in contact ; separated at middle 

 by the intervention of the supraoccipital, which connects with the frontals ; 

 epiplural appendages not developed. Air bladder large, stomach siphonal ; 

 pyloric caeca very numerous. Ova large, falling- into the cavity of the 

 abdomen before exclusion. 



As now restricted, this is no longer one of the large families of fishes, 

 rjut in beauty, activity, gaminess and quality as food and even in size of 

 individuals, different members of the group stand easily among the most 

 valuable of our fishes. 



The Salmonidae are confined to the northern regions and north of 

 about 40" N. are everywhere abundant in suitable waters. Some of the 

 species, especially the larger ones, are marine and anadromous, living 

 and growing in the sea and entering fresh waters to spawn ; others live 

 in running brooks, entering lakes or the sea as occasion serves, but not 

 habitually doing so; while others, again, are lake fishes, approaching the 

 shore or entering brooks in the spawning season, at other times retiring 

 to waters of considerable depth. Some of them are active, voracious and 

 gamy, while others are comparatively defenceless, these latter can rarely 

 be captured upon a baited hook. 



The large size of the eggs and their lack of adhesiveness, with the 

 ease by which the eggs may be obtained and impregnated, render the most 

 of the species especially adapted for artificial culture. 



6 F. 



