ACCLIMATIZATION OF FISH IN THE PACIFIC STATES. 
393 
Statement by months of the number of pounds of dressed catfish handled by San Francisco 
dealers in 1893 and 1S94. 
Months. 1893. | 1894. 
1, 515 
2, 576 
5,408 
4, 115 
3, 565 
3,035 
2, 619 
950 
6, 400 
6, 347 
4, 082 
3, 362 
4, 117 
1,696 
4, 766 
5, 290 
2, 978 
2, 630 
695 
357 
2, 473 
2, 795 
1,526 
1,732 
July 
Total 
43, 974 
31, 055 
There is little or no sale for round catfish in San Francisco, and those which 
reach the dealers in such condition are dressed by them before being exposed for sale. 
The fish shown in the foregoing table were dressed weights, which represent about 
two-thirds the original weights. The dressing consists in skinning, eviscerating, 
and removal of the head. 
The price commanded by catfish in the San Francisco market has greatly 
decreased in the past few years. In 1888 the average price to consumers was 17 cents 
a pound; in 1889 it was 10 cents ; in 1891, 7 cents; in 1892, G cents, and in 1893, 4 cents. 
There is very little reshipping of catfish by the wholesale fisli-dealers. Fully 
three-fourths of the receipts of catfish in San Francisco are consumed locally, and but 
few are sent beyond the limits of the State. 
The catfish trade of Portland is comparatively large. The quantity of fish 
handled in 1893 was 75,000 pounds of dressed fish, with a retail value of $3,750 and a 
cost price of $2,250. 
As elsewhere stated, the quantity of catfish handled at Sacramento and Stockton 
in 1893 was 59,025 pounds and 36,000 pounds, respectively, having about the same 
retail value per pound as in San Francisco. 
THE CARP. 
HISTORY OF INTRODUCTION. 
The carp ( Gyprinus carpio ) has been planted in all the States of the Pacific and 
ltocky Mountain regions, and is now one of the most widely distributed fishes. At a 
comparatively early date the local fish commissioners became impressed with the 
desirability of planting the carp in the sloughs, bayous, and shallow waters generally, 
which were either destitute of fish or, to quote the California commissioners, contained 
only “the worthless and unpalatable fish of the warm waters of the great valleys in 
the interior of the State.” From the outset a very active interest in the cultivation 
of the carp sprang up in most of the States, and numerous demands for fish for 
stocking local waters came from farmers and others. 
The carp was first imported into California in 1872, when Mr. J. A. Poppe, of 
Sonoma Couuty, brought five fish from Holstein, Germany, and put them m private 
