American Fisheries Society 129 



DISCUSSION. 



Dr. Barton W. Evermann : I think attention should be called to two 

 or three conclusions which the writer seems to have reached. 



In the first place the question of white or red meat is not one that is 

 limited to Alaska. White-meated salmon and red-meated salmon are 

 found all along the coast, at least as far south as the Columbia River; 

 but the percentage of white meated salmon in Alaska is usually regarded 

 as much greater than in the Columbia River. The theory of the Indians 

 that they can tell whether the fish is red-meated or white-meated by the 

 way it bites or pulls or whether it sounds, is an interesting one. The 

 red-meated one jumps, I believe, and then sounds; the white-meated one 

 does not jump at all. It frequently happens that a fish is half and half — 

 about half is white-meated and about half is red-meated — now what 

 would one of this kind do when hooked? And of course there are 

 white-meated ones in the Yukon and Bristol Bay, as well as farther down 

 the coast. 



It has often been stated by various persons that they cannot believe 

 that salmon die after spawning but once, because they are not all of the 

 same size. That doubt or that conclusion would be based upon the 

 fallacious belief that all salmon of the same age must necessarily be of 

 the same size, and upon the additional fallacious belief that all salmon 

 necessarily spawn at the same age. Mr. Cobb's theory apparently is that 

 a fish which is very large has spawned more than once, and the smaller 

 one perhaps only once. You might just as well reach the conclusion 

 that a man who weighed 300 pounds has been married three times and 

 a man who weighed 100 pounds had been married only once or not at all. 

 (Laughter.) There is no more reason in the one case than in the other. 

 There is no reason why all king salmon that arc three years old should 

 tip the beam at exactly the same notch. It is quite certain that they do 

 not. In fact everything that is said regarding the nature of salmon of 

 different sizes has been known along the Columbia River, and to every- 

 body else almost, for many years. 



