14 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
occupying her place over the nest, followed later by the male. At a second nest a 
female held the position against all intruders, male or female; any fish approaching 
within 6 feet was attacked. 
Cannerymen and fishermen in Alaska all agree that hardly any two streams in 
the Territory carry exactly the same redfish or other species of salmon, but the redfish 
is the only one that receives much attention, the others being taken incidentally. 
It is said that there is a slight difference in general form, color, and texture which 
fishermen recognize, as well as a large difference in weight. Upon this hangs the 
idea persisted in by many fishermen, that salmon do return to their parent stream; 
and if the differences mentioned do exist, the theory based upon them must have great 
weight. I have never been able to detect the variations in form, etc., except the 
well-known clianges which take place in each fish from the time it arrives from the 
ocean until death overtakes it on the spawning-grounds, but there seems to be a 
difference in the quality, fish from certain streams being considered better than others. 
For instance, the best redfish in Alaska are said to be the Chilkat redfish, in that they 
are more delicate in flavor and more oily. 
There are undoubted and undisputed differences in average weight, and so well 
known is the weight of redfish that run in different streams that contracts are made 
and prices paid accordingly; for while the number of fish required to pack a case 
varies, it practically remains the same for each stream from year to year. 
As extremes of weight, it may be mentioned that Quadra stream carries 8-poimd 
redfish, while Necker stream (about 35 miles south of Sitka, on Barauof Island) has 
redfish averaging about 2^ pounds iu weight. These are not accidental runs, but 
people who have fished these streams for years assert that each year these streams 
have the same fish with little or no variation. It is probable that the fish vary more 
in the same stream than is stated. At Karluk the early run usually consists of fish 
from 14 to 15 and even as high as 17 to the case, but as the season advances they 
come down to 12. 
At all places visited by the Albatross inquiries were made as to whether spent 
salmon had ever been seen returning to the sea, and the usual reply was that, 
with the exception of king salmon and steelheads, they all died at the headwaters 
after spawning. Some of the cannery superintendents whose opinions were obtained 
had fished in Alaska twelve to fifteen years; others were men interested in the fish- 
