64 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OP FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



a necessity by the fact that, in all hut unusually late seasons, like the present, the streams 

 emptying into the lake become dry by the time this fish is ready to spawn. In color the 

 Porgy is intermediate between the male and female trout, but the spots are much less 

 regular. 



The Silver trout may readily be distinguished at a glance in life, but the Porgy is readily 

 taken for a Silver trout when life is extinct. Two Porgies purchased at the wharf of 

 Tahoe City appeared to be Silver trout when they reached our hotel. The meat is of a 

 salmon color. Many of the Silver trout are, without any doubt, the Red trout at a stage 

 younger than the Porgy. If the assertion be true, that the Silver trout attains a weight 

 of seventeen or eighteen pounds, the lack of color is doubtless due to the surroundings. 



The Yellow-belly is a Silver trout from a different bottom, which has changed the 

 silvery to yellow. 



The Brook trout of this region are merely the young of the Red trout. They are quite 

 distinct from the true Brook trout {Salmo irideus). 



It will thus be seen that the trout of Tahoe belong at most to only two species, and very 

 possibly to a single one. 



At the fish hatchery of the State Fish Commission, located at Tahoe City, thousands of 

 trout are now being hatched. The troughs at the hatchery are filled withthe trout in all 

 stages of development, from the currant-like egg to the food-hunting fish an inch long, 

 which has lost its yolk-sac, or source of nourishment. 



Salvelinus malma Walbaum. Dolly Varden; Red-spotted Trout. 



This is another species concerning which I have no personal knowl- 

 edge. It is indigenous to the region west of the Cascade Range, from 

 Northern California to Alaska. According to Goode it is the most 

 important of our chars, next to the Eastern Brook trout. It descends to 

 the sea, and reaches the weight of fourteen pounds, but in the mountain 

 streams it spawns at a length of six or eight inches. They are reported 

 to spawn late in the fall in the rivers. 



CENTRARCHiDiE. The Sunfishes. 



Archoplites interruptus Girard. Sacramento Perch. 



This is the only California representative of the numerous species of 

 sunfishes inhabiting North America. It is found throughout the Sacra- 

 mento and San Joaquin Valleys, and descends to tide water. It is not 

 frequently brought into the market, and is of no great economic value. 



Holconotid^e. Viviparous Perches. 



Hysterocarpus traski Gibbons. Viviparous Perch. 



The economic value of this fish is entirely incommensurate with its 

 scientific interest. It does not reach a large size. It is found through- 

 out the Sacramento Valley. It is the only American fresh-water repre- 

 sentative of the viviparous family Holconotidde, of which there are so 

 many species along the entire coast of California. While all our other 

 fresh-water fishes deposit spawn, this species brings forth living young 

 in an almost mature stage. 



Its characters have been so changed, probably by its permanent stay 

 in fresh water, that it now represents a sub-family quite distinct from 

 its marine relatives. 



CoTTiDiE. Sculpins. 



The members of this family are mostly marine, and species of Cottidse 

 abound along the entire coast of California. Some of them reach a 

 large size, and are brought into the markets; but most of them are 

 small and of no importance. 



