XL FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



THE FOOD FISHES OF ALASKA. 



By Dr. T, H. Bean. 



There are at present kuowu from the Territory of Alaska one hun 

 (Ired and thirty-five species of fishes, nearly all of which inhabit either 

 the fresh waters, the shallow waters along the shore, or moderate 

 depths of the ocean. Only two species of deep-sea fishes are recorded. 

 No exi)loration of the deep waters had been attempted until the cruise 

 of the Albatross in the Gulf of Alaska in 1888. The collections made 

 during this cruise are in Washington, but have not yet been studied. 



Of the one hundred and thirty-five species known to exist iu Alaska 

 one hundred and eight are marine and the remainder either fresh-water 

 or anadromous. Sixty-two of the species are valuable for food, not in- 

 cluding some other fishes which are extensively eaten by natives but 

 are not usually classed as food fishes. 



The food fishes are abundant, as a rule, and most of them are exces- 

 sively common. Seventeen of the species grow to a very large size, 

 particularly the halibut, the cod, the burbot, the cultus cod, the beshowe, 

 the pike, Richardson's whitefish, the nelma or iuconuu, the lake trout, 

 the JJolly Varden, Clark's trout, Gairdner's trout, and the five species 

 of Pacific salmon. Most of the useful species are very widely distrib- 

 uted in the waters of the Territory. 



Flounders exist everywhere, butthe larger kinds are limited to the 

 Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. In the far North, while the number 

 of individuals is very great, there are no large species. There are as 

 many species of flounders and flat fishes in the seas of Alaska as in the 

 corresponding latitudes of the western Atlantic. The whole number 

 of edible kinds in this family is nine ; one of these, the stellate floun- 

 der, has, perhaps, the most extensive distribution in latitude of any 

 species of the family, ranging as it does from the southern i)art of 

 California to Mackenzie's River or through about 37 degrees of latitude. 

 The halibut, which is identical with the well-known species of the 

 Atlantic fishing-banks, is very abundant in the Gulf of Alaska and in 

 Bering Sea, except iu localities where it is destroyed by fur seals and 

 other fish-eating mammals. 



In Bering Sea the halibut is usually found up to the ice line. Its north- 

 ern limit in summer appears to be in Norton Sound (latitude 04° N., longi- 

 tude 163 W. from Greenwich), where it occurs in the months of July, 

 August, and September. Mr. Turner states that it is not common at 

 St. Michaels and rarely is found there above 20 inches in length. Among 

 the Aleutian Islands it is a permanent resident and is said to reach the 

 enormous weight of 300 pouuds. At the seal islands large halibut, too 

 large to be destroyed by the sea-lion and the fur seal, are caught by the 

 natives near the shores. The species is stated to range westward to the 

 Okhotsk Sea. We may, therefore, consider it as established that Ber- 

 ing Sea furnishes suitable grounds for the permanent residence and re- 

 production of the halibut. 



The cod family number six species of food fishes, one of which, the 

 burbot, iuhabits fresh waters. This burbot is identical with the east- 

 ern species of the same name ; in some of the Alaskan rivers, notably 

 the Yukon, it reaches the enormous length of 5 feet, and specimens 

 weighing GO pounds have been recorded by Dall & Turner. This would 

 make it a rival of the cod in size. Most of the members of this family 

 iu northern Alaska are small, but the individuals of the species are ex- 

 cessiveW abundant iu the Arctic portion of the Territory. The polar 



