lO 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
fish, 126 were males, 145 females; of the 229 5-year fish, 129 were males, 100 females. 
The total number of males (255) was but slightly in excess of the total number of 
females (245). Among 4-year fish the females were decidedly in excess, among 5-year 
fish the males. 
As regards weight, 113 4- year fish taken without selection aggregated 709.25 
pounds with an average of 6.27; 104 5-year fish weighed 776.25 pounds, with an average 
of 7.46. Extremes of weight among 4-year fish were 4.75 and 8, among 5-year fish 
5.75 and 8.75. 
The following table gives distribution in accordance with their length of the 500 
individuals of the stream type in which age was determined, the 4-year males being 
compared with the 5-year males, and the 4-year females with the 5-year females.® At 
the time the measurements were taken the jaws in the males were seldom strongly 
hooked, but a preorbital elongation was apparent which accounts in part but not 
wholly for the greater length of males than of females. The fish were measured over 
the curve of the body from the end of the rostrum to the tips of the middle rays of the 
caudal fin. It will be noted that the range in size of the 4 and 5 year fish overlap widely, 
but the curves are characteristically distinct, the 5-year fish averaging at least 2 inches 
longer, out of a total range of 5 inches in length for each group. Examination of a 
larger series of individuals would unquestionably extend the limits of each group by the 
addition of the exceptionally large and the exceptionally small, but the table as pre- 
sented doubtless gives correctly the range in size of the vast majority at the time the 
examination was made. It will be of great interest to compare similar curves prepared 
for the same river basin in successive years; also curves of the sockeye run in different 
basins. 
Five Hundred Fraser River Sockeyes which had Migrated to Sea as Yearlings, Grouped 
BY Sex, Age, and Size. 
Length 
in inches. 
Males. 
Females. 
Length 
in inches. 
Males. 
Females. 
4 years. 
5 years. 
4 years. 
5 years. 
4 years. 
5 years. 
4 years. 
S years. 
21 
21 ^ 
22 
22M 
23 
23H 
24 
24 ^ 
25 
25H 
26 
2654 
27 
21 
II 
4 
25 
22 
15 
IS 
12 
2 
2 
27 
IS 
12 
4 
2 
I 
1 
2 
II 
19 
49 
27 
22 
II 
2 
4 
5 
13 
20 
23 
23 
28 
28 x 4 
29 
29J4 
Total. . 
1 
2 
3 
13 
21 
4 
13 
20 
I 
126 
129 
14s 
100 
Three-year fish, or grilse, were not included in the above table. During the summer 
of 1911 they were not numerous. Only a few (perhaps 3 or 4 on the average) could 
usually be found in each i ,000 fish brought in. It is the current belief among those who 
handle Fraser River sockeyes that all the grilse are male fish. As previously noted, 
a Measurements were made August 2 - 4 , 1911, in the cannery of the Pacific American Fisheries at Bellingham, Wash. To 
the management of this concern we desire to express our grateful appreciation of their uniform courtesy. 
