LIFE HISTORY OF THE SALMON. 
BY TARLETON H. BEAN, M. D., 
Ichthyologist , U. S. Fish Commission. 
The greatest wealth of Alaska is represented by its fishes, and among these by 
far the most important are the members of the salmon family and other closely related 
forms, such as the whitefishes, grayling, smelt, and capelin. The salmon alone repre- 
sent an annual value for canning purposes of about $3,000,000, derived almost entirely 
from three species. The undeveloped resources which may be obtained from the sal- 
mon-like fishes have undoubtedly equal importance with the material now utilized. 
In the distribution of the Salmonidce Alaska received a generous share. Seven- 
teen of the known species, or about one-sixth of the entire number, occur in its waters. 
Lying entirely within the area in which the family is indigenous, plentifully supplied 
with long water-courses, rapid snow-fed streams, and cool, deep lakes glistening in 
mountain valleys, over beds of clean gravel and bowlders intermingled with sheltering 
water plants, free from obstructions to the movements of the migratory species, its 
invitation to the salmon to come in and possess the waters and multiply therein was 
readily accepted. 
The largest salmon of the world are credited to this Territory, and there is no 
doubt that in Cook Inlet king salmon which weigh over 100 pounds are occasionally 
taken, but this is far above the average weight of the species. The most abundant 
salmon in Alaska are the red salmon and the little humpback, and it is these species 
which figure in the wonderful tales concerning rivers which contain more fish than 
water, tales which sound incredible to those who have never visited Alaska, but which 
in many cases are strictly true. 
The salmou have been traced as far north as Hotham Inlet, and one species is 
found well to the eastward of Point Barrow. It is quite probable that this species, 
the little humpback, extends its migration to the Mackenzie. 
The rivers and lakes of Alaska contain five species of whitefish, the largest one 
( Coregonus richardsoni, PI. vn, Fig. 1), sometimes reaching a weight of 30 pounds. 
For many years this was believed to be identical with the common whitefish of our 
Great Lakes fisheries, but it differs from this in many particulars. The species was 
known to the Russians as the “ mulcsun .” In the report of the Commissioner of Agri- 
culture for 1870, page 386, Dali refers to it as the “broad whitefish,” which, he says, 
“is usually very fat and very good eating. It abounds in both winter and summer, 
spawning in September in the small rivers falling into the Yukon.” This is the species 
which Milner named Coregonus lcennicotti , in honor of Robert Kennicott. Capt. E. P. 
Herendeen, of the Signal Service expedition to Point Barrow, found this whitefish in 
Meade River in October, 1882. This stream is a tributary of the Arctic Ocean to the 
eastward of Point Barrow. The southern limit of this species is not known, but it 
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