Sunapee Trout ; American Saibling 



to Sunapee Lake, New Hampshire, and Flood Pond, near Ells- 

 worth, Maine, but through fish cultural operations it has been in- 

 troduced into a number of other lakes. 



The water of both Sunapee Lake and Flood Pond is ex- 

 ceptionally pure and cold, the bottom temperature varying from 

 38 to 52, according to the depth, as giving by Dr. Quacken- 

 bos. The maximum depth of each is over 100 feet, the bottom 

 is of white sand and gravel, and there is in each an abundance 

 of crustacea and other fish-food. 



These are the environing conditions which have made the 

 Sunapee trout a fish of surprising beauty and gracefulness. 

 According to Dr. Quackenbos who has a more intimate ac- 

 quaintance with this fish than any other who has written about 

 it, the distinguishing characteristics are as follows: "The presence 

 of a broad row of teeth on the hyoid bone between the lower 

 extremities of the first 2 gill-arches; the absence of mottling on 

 the dark sea-green back, and the excessively developed fins; in- 

 conspicuous yellow spots without areola: a square or slightly 

 emarginate tail; a small and delicately shaped head; diminutive, 

 aristocratic mouth, liquid planetary eyes, and a generally graceful 

 build; a phenomenally brilliant nuptial colouration, recalling the 

 foreign appellations of 'blood-red charr,' 'gilt charr,' and 

 'golden saibling.' As the October pairing time approaches, the 

 Sunapee fish becomes illuminated with the flushes of maturing 

 passion. 



"The steel-green mantle of the back and shoulders now 

 seems to dissolve into a veil of amethyst, through which the 

 daffodil spots of mid-summer gleam out in points of flame, 

 while below the lateral line all is dazzling orange. The fins 

 catch the hue of adjacent parts, and pectoral, ventral, anal, and 

 lower lobe of caudal, are marked with a lustrous white band. 



" It is a unique experience to watch this American saibling 

 spawning on the Sunapee shallows. Here in all the magnificence 

 of their nuptial decoration flash schools of painted beauties, 

 circling in proud sweeps about the submerged boulders they 

 would select as the scenes of their loves the poetry of an epi- 

 thalamium in every motion in one direction, uncovering to the 

 sunbeams in amorous leaps their golden-tinctured sides, gemmed 

 with the fire of rubies; in another, darting in little companies, 

 the pencilled margins of their fins seeming to trail behind them 



214 



