FISHES OF NEW YORK 247 



Tivers the season continues till February. The eggs are about 

 one fourth of an inch in diameter, and the female is estimated 

 to have about 1000 for each pound of her weight. In the 

 Penobscot, ^according to the observations of Mr Atkins, an 

 eight pound female yields from 5000 to 6000 eggs; and a female 

 •of 40 pounds about 15,000 eggs. The hatching period ranges 

 ifrbm 140 to 200 days or more, depending on the temperature. 

 A newly hatched salmon is about three fourths of an inch 

 long, and the yolk sack is absorbed in from a month to six 

 weeks. It then begins to feed on small organisms in the water. 

 At the age of two months it measures 1|- inches and begins 

 to show crossbars and red spots, gradually coming into the 

 parr stage. In the sea the salmon feeds on herring, caplin, 

 :«and lance, smelt and other small fishes, besides crustaceans; 

 tout during its stay in fresh water it takes no food. 



Among the worst enemies of salmon eggs are trout, eels, 

 ^suckers and frogs. Numerous species of birds destroy the fry, 

 among them sheldrakes, kingfishers, gulls and terns. 



The value of the salmon as a food and game fish is so well 

 linown as to require no description here. Those that find their 

 way into market are usually caught in pound nets, gill nets 

 or seines, and the bulk of them are taken at or near the mouths 

 of the streams which they are about to enter for the purpose 

 of spawning. Many are captured in the upper reaches of 

 streams by the spear. 



Eggs of the Atlantic salmon, just on the point of hatching, 

 from the Kestigouche river, Canada, were received at the "New 

 York aquarium from Percy Baker about May 1, 1897. Several 

 hundred healthy embryos were obtained from them. These 

 were reared almost without loss till June 18, when the temper- 

 ature of the water had reached 76° and nearly all perished. 

 November 27, one of the few survivors was 3| inches long. 

 Liver was the principal food of the fry. 



Mitchill, in the first volume of the transactions of the Literary 

 :and Philosophical Society of New York, says that the salmon 

 '^^ has been taken, since the discovery, a few times in the Hudson. 



