THE SALMON FAMILY. 267 



RETURN OF SALMON TO THE SEA AS "SPENT FISH" 



AFTER SPAWNING. 



After spawning, the adult fish are for some time in a 

 very weak and exhausted state, and have not energy suffi- 

 cient immediately to return to the sea. They usually 

 drop down from the spawning-grounds, or ' redds/ to the 

 first quiet deep, where they remain until their strength 

 is somewhat recruited. They then continue falling back 

 with the winter and spring floods, descending from pool to 

 pool, and avoiding as much as possible weirs and rapid 

 currents, until they reach the sea, where they quickly 

 recover their condition, to ascend again (at least in many 

 cases) in the autumn or succeeding spring for the same 

 purpose as before, always remaining, however, for a con- 

 siderable period in the brackish water or tideway before 

 making either decided change. 



After the conclusion of the spawning-process, Salmon 

 are called ' spent' or unclean fish, or ' Kelts '; and at 

 this time they are quite unfit for food indeed almost poi- 

 sonous and their capture is prohibited by law. Spawned 

 male fish are also termed Kippers, and females Shedders 

 or Baggits names by which they are frequently men- 

 tioned in Acts of Parliament relating to the Salmon- 

 fisheries. Lately-spawned Kelts may be recognized by 

 their dark unhealthy colour, lanky flaccid appearance, and 

 by the enlargement of the vent. Their gills also are almost 

 invariably found to be infested by a species of white worm* 



* This insect, the Lerneea Salmonis of Linnaeus, is improperly called 



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