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, t hence 
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 
1 Sal' mo clark'ii. 
