90 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



In the North Pacific, on both coasts, there are five different species 

 of fishes called salmon. They do not belong to the genus Salmo, but to 

 a peculiar group called Oncorhynchus, or hook-snout, In all the species 

 of Oncorhynchus, every individual, large or small, old or young, male 

 or female, dies after the act of spawning is completed. All the tissues 

 of the body become degenerate, the muscle is as dead as a dead corn- 

 stalk, and when the eggs, or the milt, are deposited, all life processes 

 are at a standstill. This in itself distinguishes Oncorhynchus from 

 Salmo. Other characteristics are the great elongation of the jaws in 

 the old males, which are hooked over at the tip, and on which the front 

 teeth become greatly enlarged. The spawning fish change greatly in 

 color and looks, the scales sink into the spongy skin, and so different 

 are these spawning fishes from the same fishes in the spring that no 

 one would suspect them of belonging to the same species. Technically, 

 all the species of Oncorhynchus may be known by the presence of more 

 than twelve developed rays in the anal fin, and more than twelve 

 branchiostegal rays on each side underneath the gill covers. They 

 all spawn in cooling water, in the fall. The young descend the next 

 spring to the sea. They feed only in salt water, and after about four 

 years (sometimes three, or two) they re-enter the river to cast their 

 spawn and die. The old salmon never feed in fresh water. The differ- 

 ent species have different habits. It is clear that the habit of running 

 is a very old one. I have received from Dr. John C. Merriam, of the 

 University of California, fragments of spawning salmon jaws embedded 

 in rock about the Postpliocene lakes of Idaho. 



The largest and finest salmon is the Chinook, Quinnat, or King 

 Salmon, known in science as Oncorhynchus tschawytscha. This salmon 

 is the common salmon of the Sacramento and Columbia rivers. As a 

 food fish it is the best of all its tribe, and in size, when full grown, it 

 ranges from fifteen to one hundred pounds. 



It spawns in the fall, in snow-fed rivers, and as it ascends very far, 

 it leaves the sea early, at the time of spring freshets. Up the Yukon 

 it runs as far as Caribou Crossing. 2.250 miles ; up the Columbia and 

 Sacramento to their very headwaters. This species is the chief stay of 

 the canning industry south of Puget Sound. Its value, commercially, 

 far exceeds that of any other fish of the Pacific, the red salmon 

 excepted. 



The Blueback salmon, Alaska red salmon, or Sukkegh ("Sock-eye"), 

 Oncorhynchus nerka, is even more valuable in the aggregate, for it runs 

 in countless millions in Alaska. But it is a smaller fish, the average 

 being six to ten pounds. Its flesh is drier, redder and coarser. In 

 the sea, and in the early runs, its body is bright metallic blue in color, 

 with white belly, unspotted. Later, the body turns crimson red, while 

 the head takes a shade of olive green. The names Blueback and Red 



