198 



SALMON. 



so industriously employed to take it in its early growth. The 

 average weight appears to have been about forty pounds, and 

 the largest known to Nilsson was forty-four pounds, with a 

 length of four feet two inches; and this fish was sufficiently old 

 to have lost all the teeth in the vomer, except those in the 

 front. But heavier examples are on record in Britain: — in 

 February, 1826, a Salmon caught in the Tweed weighed fifty- 

 eight pounds; its length four feet, the girth two feet four inches 

 and a half; other examples have weighed sixty, seventy, seventy- 

 four, and eighty, the latter mentioned by Mr. Lloyd; and the 

 largest of all, given by Mr. Yarrell, eighty-three pounds. The 

 general shape is moderately lengthened and compressed, but 

 plump; head comparatively small, more slender in front, the 

 gape large; in the male the point of the lower jaw is bent 

 upward, and particularly so at the season of spawning; a cavity 

 in front of the upper jaw to receive it. Teeth in the upper 

 jaw strong, separate, with a vacancy in front; in the lower 

 jaw thicker; teeth also along the border of the mystache; on 

 the tongue in two lengthened rows, strong, hooked; also round 

 the palate and along the middle, (vomer,) but these latter appear 

 to become less in number, or altogether lost in age. Eye small, 

 low down, near the angle of the mouth; nostrils at one third 

 of the distance from eye to snout. Body covered with scales 

 of moderate size; lateral line straight. First dorsal fin about 

 the middle of the body, fleshy at the base, the adipose fin 

 begins opposite the middle of the anal; pectorals round, first of 

 the ventrals opposite the middle of the first dorsal; tail broad, 

 and its border a little waved. The colour varies with the 

 season, but tends to a steel blue; upper fins the colour of the 

 back, lower fins pale; belly white, a few scattered spots some- 

 times on the body; the colour less brilliant soon after leaving 

 the sea, and the skin more slimy. Near the time of spawning 

 the sides have a tinge of pink, and the cheeks are often streaked 

 with yellow and faint red. In the dorsal fin thirteen or fourteen 

 rays, the pectoral fourteen, ventral nine, anal eleven, caudal 

 nineteen. 



The exact proportions of the body differ not a little in fish 

 of different rivers, and also according to the sex. To examine 

 this more closely, Nilsson obtained at one time a male and 

 female of the same size; and he found the head of the former 



