742 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



.Little blue-backs of every size down to 6 inches are also found in the Upper Columbia in 

 the fall, with their organs of generation fully developed. Nineteen-twentieths of these young fish 

 are males, and some of them have the hooked jaws and red color of the old males ; others do not. 

 Some of them apparently have never been to the sea. 



The average weight of the quinnat in the Columbia, in the spring, is 22 pounds; in the Sac- 

 ramento about 16. Individuals weighing from 40 to 60 pounds are frequently found in both rivers, 

 and some as high as 80 pounds are reported. . It is questioned whether these large fishes are : (a) 

 Those which, of the same age, have grown more rapidly; (b) those which are older, but have, for 

 some reason, failed to spawn ; or (c) those which have survived one or more spawning seasons. 

 All of these origins may be possible in individual cases ; we are, however, of the opinion, that the 

 majority of these large fish are those which have hitherto run in the fall and so may have survived 

 the spawning season previous. 



Those fish which enter the rivers in the spring continue their ascent until death or the spawn 

 ing season overtakes them. Probably none of them ever return to the ocean, and a large propor- 

 tion fail to spawn. They are known to ascend the Sacramento as far as the base of Mount Shasta, 

 or to its extreme headwaters, about 400 miles. In the Columbia they are known to ascend as far 

 as the Bitter Root Mountains, Spokan Falls, and the Falls of Snake River, and their extreme 

 limit is not known. This is a distance of 600 to 1,000 miles. 



At these great distances, when the fish have reached the spawning-grounds, besides the usual 

 changes of the breeding season, their bodies are covered with bruises, on which patches of white 

 fungus develop. The fins become mutilated, their eyes are often injured or destroyed, parasitic 

 worms gather in their gills, they become extremely emaciated, their flesh becomes white from the 

 loss of the oil, and as soon as the spawning act is accomplished, and sometimes before, all of them 

 die. The ascent of the Cascades and the Dalles probably causes the injury or death of a great 

 many salmon. 



When the salmon enter the river they refuse bait, and their stomachs are always found empty 

 and contracted. In the rivers they do not feed, and when they reach the spawning-grounds their 

 stomachs, pyloric coaca and all, are said to be no larger than one's finger. They will sometimes 

 take the fly, or a hook baited with salmon roe, in the clear waters of the upper tributaries, but 

 there is no other evidence known to us that they feed when there. Only the quinnat and blue- 

 back (then called redfish) have been found in the fall at any great distance from the sea. 



The spawning season is probably about the same for all the species. It varies for all in dif- 

 ferent parts of the same river, and doubtless extends from July to December. 



The manner of spawning is probably similar for all the species, but we have no data for any 

 except the quinnat. In this species the fish pair off, the male, with tail and snout, excavates a 

 broad shallow nest" in the gravelly bed of the stream, in rapid water, at a depth of 1 to 4 feet; 

 the female deposits her eggs in it and after the exclusion of the milt they cover them with stones 

 and gravel. They then float down the stream tail foremost. A great majority of them die. In 

 the headwaters of the large streams unquestionably all die. In the small streams, and near the 

 sea, an unknown percentage probably survive. The young hatch in about sixty days, and most of 

 them return to the ocean during the high water of the spring. 



The salmon of all kinds in the spring are silvery, spotted or not according to the species, and 

 with the mouth about equally symmetirical in both sexes. 



As the spawning season approaches the female loses her silvery color, becomes more slimy, the 

 scales on the back partly sink into the skin, and the flesh changes from salmon red and becomes 

 variously paler, from the loss of the oil; the degree of paleness varying much with individuals 

 and with inhabitants of different rivers. 



