ABDOMINAL FISH. 



OF THE SALMON TRIBE. 



THESE fish are distinguished from all others, by having 1 two 

 fins, of which the hindermost is fleshy and without rays. They have 

 teeth both in the jaws and on the tongue ; and the body is covered 

 with round and minutely striated scales. 



Rapid and stony rivers, where the water is free from mud, are the 

 favorite places of most of the Salmon tribe. Some of them do indeed 

 inhabit the sea ; but they come up the rivers for the purpose of 

 depositing their spawn in the beds of gravel ; and in this instinctive 

 pursuit they are able to surmount wonderful obstacles that oppose 

 their course. After spawning, they return to the sea lean and 

 emaciated. The whole tribe is supposed to afford wholesome food for 

 mankind. 



THE COMMON SALMON. 



This fish seems, in a great measure, confined to the northern seas, 

 being unknown in the Mediterranean, and in the waters of other warm 



climates. It lives in fresh as well as in salt waters, forcing itself in 

 autumn up the rivers, sometimes for hundreds of miles, for the 

 purpose of depositing its spawn. In these peregrinations it is that 

 Salmon are caught in the great numbers that supply our markets and 

 tables. Intent only on the object of their journey, they spring up 

 cataracts, and over other obstacles of very great height. This extra- 

 ordinary power seems to be owing to a sudden jerk which the fish 

 gives to its body, from a bent into a straight position. 



Where the water is low, or where sand-banks intervene, they throw 

 themselves on one side, ajid in that position soon work themselves 

 over into the deep water beyond. 



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