94 



THE SEA-TROUT 



imagine the colouring of " blue and silver " and " brown and gold " 

 phantom minnows is intended to give effect to it. 



If then, having perceived this contrast, the angler now compares 

 the two kinds of fish more minutely, still dealing with the superficial 

 colouring and markings, he will see that the salmon parr is somewhat 

 differently marked from the young trout. Both kinds of fish for at 

 least the first year have a distinct series of dark slate-coloured oval 

 marks along their sides, the ovals being bisected by the lateral line. 

 They are variously referred to as " bands," or " arches " or " finger 

 marks,"- but the term " parr marks " describes them sufficiently. 



The parr marks are not, in either the young salmon or trout, of 

 uniform number, but generally there are from eight to ten distinct ovals 

 along the side of the salmon parr; but a curious break, as if an oval 

 were missing or not fully formed, sometimes occurs in the middle of 

 the series. The " parr marks " of the young trout are not only more 

 numerous and less regular in their oval shape but the curious breaks 

 referred to occur with more frequency in the series as if some of the 

 ovals had been broken into upper and lower portions by the lateral line. 

 The parr marks persist in the young salmon in definite outline until the 

 fish is on the eve of migration when the silvery smolt scales effectually 

 conceal them, yet on the scales being removed they may still be distinctly 

 seen. The parr marks of the trout usually become irregular in shape 

 and indistinct in outline in the second year, and appear then rather as 

 darker patches of the body colour. I have said " usually," because in 

 some instances, notably in Loch Freisa in Mull — and I may instance 

 also Loch Tay and Loch Lomond — the trout retain their parr marks 

 until they are fish of nearly a pound in weight. But in the general case, 

 when a trout is about seven inches in length, the marks have become so 

 indeterminate as to enable the fish to be easily picked out from a number 

 of salmon parr on this account alone. Tn order that the reader may 

 have an idea of the contrast between yearling and two-year old fish, I 



