CHAPTER XLVII 



THE ORDER OF TROUT AND SALMON 



ISOSPONDYLI 



This grand Order is represented in North 

 American waters by 135 full species of fishes, 

 all decidedly edible, and the majority of them 

 are classed as "game" fishes. It includes not 

 only some of the most choice of all our finny 

 tribes, but also others whose commercial value 

 is of the highest rank. In it are found the trout, 

 salmon, whitefish, shad, herring, menhaden and 

 tarpon. Despite the great number of species 

 in the Spiny-Finned Order (446), it seems highly 

 probable that their combined value in the mar- 

 kets falls far below the aggregate for the Order 

 now under consideration. On the Pacific coast, 

 the value of the annual salmon catch alone is, 

 at this date, about $13,000,000, whereas the an- 

 nual value of the cod, the most valuable food 

 fish of the Atlantic, is only $2,000,000. 



Reminding the reader once more that we are 

 endeavoring to present groups in the order of 

 their natural rank and importance, we present 

 first in this Order of fishes the Family of highest 

 interest and value. 



THE SALMON FAMILY. 



Sal-mon'i-dae. 



The Salmon Family contains all the trout, 

 salmon and whitefishes, to the number of thirty- 

 two full species and twenty-nine subspecies. 

 Of these three groups, the first is celebrated for 

 the beauty of form, picturesque surroundings, 

 and gamy qualities of its members. The 

 salmon and whitefish are noted chiefly for their 

 great value as food. 



Few persons, it is safe to say, know either 

 the size or the subdivisions of the group of Ameri- 

 can trout and charrs. The species are numerous, 

 beautiful, and widely distributed north of a line 

 drawn from New York City to San Diego, Cali- 

 fornia. For a clear and correct understanding 

 of these fishes, a diagram is absolutely necessary. 

 The world is indebted to Dr. D. S. Jordan, Pres- 



ident of Leland Stanford University, for the re- 

 searches which have made him the leading au- 

 thority on this large and extremely interesting 

 group of fishes, and by means of which it has 

 been made comprehensible. 



Of North American trout, generally, the centre 

 of abundance is certainly west of the Rocky 

 Mountains, and the group as a whole is decidedly 

 of the Far West. The trout of the eastern 

 United States are but the advance guard of the 

 main body which fills the swirling mountain 

 streams and lakes of the Rocky Mountain region 

 and the Pacific coast. Our famous and well- 

 beloved speckled trout of the East is but a tri- 

 fling incident in comparison with the many fine 

 species found in the true home of the Trout 

 Family. 



Dr. Jordan believes that our original stock 

 of trout came to us from Asia, and "extended 

 its range southward to the upper Columbia, thence 

 over the continental divide via Two-Ocean Pass 

 to the Yellowstone and the Missouri Rivers, the 

 Platte, Arkansas, Rio Grande and Colorado." 

 He actually caught Yellowstone trout in Two- 

 Ocean Pass, on the top of the great continental 

 divide, "in the very act of going from Pacific 

 into Atlantic drainage." 



The Mountain Trout, or Black-Spotted 

 Trout.' — Like many others, this is a fish of many 

 names, — Spotted, Black, Silver, Salmon, Steel- 

 head and Cut-Throat, — all ending with Trout. 

 The last mentioned,— " Cut-Throat Trout,"— 

 Dr. G. Brown Goode characterized as "a hor- 

 rible name, which it is hoped will never be sanc- 

 tioned in literature." And why "Cut-Throat," 

 any more than Ripper Trout, or Wife-Beater 

 Trout? 



Surely this fine fish, which Dr. Jordan con- 

 siders probably the parent from which all 

 others of this group have been derived, is worthy 

 ' Sal'mo clark'ii. 



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