796 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
time at which these runs enter the rivers; the races which spawn far upstream usually 
appear during the spring months, whereas the lower-spawning races do not appear 
until later in the summer or in early fall. 
Gilbert (1913) and Fraser (1917 et seq.) both found that the greater part of the 
fry descend to salt water shortly after hatching, and a lesser proportion remain in 
the stream throughout the first winter and migrate seaward during the following spring. 
These findings were based on scale readings. Scales from fish which migrated to the 
sea as fry showed a typical rapid growth in the nucleus, those which migrated as 
yearlings showed a distinctly different nucleus, due to the less rapid growth in the 
stream. Fraser reported the proportions of these types in lower Gulf of Georgia 
fish to be 65.4 percent sea-type and 34.6 percent stream-type. His collections from 
the upper part of the Gulf of Georgia contained 78.2 percent of the former type and 
21.8 percent of the latter. 
Rich (1925) stated that in the Columbia River rims the stream-type nuclei indi- 
cated spring-running fish which spawned in the headwater streams, whereas sea-type 
nuclei predominated later in the season when the lower-spawning races of fish were 
entering the river. 
After migrating to salt water, the young kings are frequently caught in the inner 
waters of the region before reaching the ocean. At this time they are called “black- 
mouth” by the fishermen. 
Tagging experiments reported by Canadian investigators, Williamson (1925, 
1926), Mottley (1929), Williamson and Clemens (1932), Clemens (1932), and Pritchard 
(1934), indicate that a considerable proportion of the young kings migrate northward 
and return along the coast of Southeastern Alaska and British Columbia on their 
migration to the streams where they will spawn. These experiments have also indi- 
cated the presence of large numbers of kings from the populations of other coastal 
rivers, both north and south of the region, in the same localities along the British 
Columbia coast. It is evident that a considerable mixture of populations occurs in 
the waters of the Pacific, and that catches of gear operating in the offshore waters 
may well contain large numbers of fish from streams other than those of the region. 
Gilbert (1913) stated that kings taken in the commercial fishery of the region 
ranged in age from 3-7 years, and that the fish in their third year were grilse. Fraser 
(1921) reported that the commercial catch from the upper part of the Gulf of Georgia 
contained fish from 2-6 years of age, only part of which were mature. Of those indi- 
viduals which had entered the sea shortly after hatching, nearly 50 percent were in 
their third, and approximately 35 percent were in their fourth year. The remainder 
were 2 and 5 years of age. Of those which had entered the sea after a considerable 
time in fresh water, some 30 percent were in their third year, 44 percent in their fourth 
year, 23 percent in their fifth year, and the remainder in their sixth year. The bulk 
of the mature fish were in their fourth and fifth years. 
An important characteristic of the king salmon, unique to that species, is the 
considerable variation in the color of the flesh. Rathbun (1899) stated: 
While in some of the fish the flesh has its ordinary deep pink color, in others the flesh is white 
or only slightly tinged with pink. All intermediate gradations of colorations, as well as intermixtures 
of the two, occur, and no degree of this variation is distinguishable from the outside. 
