32 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
resting, during the ascent of the Karluk. Numerous beds of eel-grass and other 
aquatic plants furnish attractive hiding-places in which the fish sometimes linger. 
The red salmon ascends to the lake or lakes which the river drains, and it is 
said that this species will not enter a river which does not arise from a lake. The 
distance traveled in the Karluk is less than 20 miles, and the principal lake is 8 
miles long. Red salmon spawn in this lake and in the short and rapid rivers con- 
necting each of its arms with smaller tributary lakes. They ascend long rivers, like 
the Columbia, more than 1,000 miles, to reach the spawning lakes. 
This salmon begins spawning soon after its arrival on the coast, and this varies 
with the locality. The season usually begins in June, and fish which have not yet 
spawned continue to arrive as late as the beginning of September. Spawning takes 
place in August, as the writer knows from personal observation. Dead fish and others 
which have spawned and arc already dying are very abundant about the middle of 
this month. In Karluk Lake, near the sources of the river, ripe red salmon were 
speared by the natives August 17, 1889. On the 18th of the same month large numbers 
of dead salmon of this species, and plenty of both sexes which were spent and nearly 
dead, were found in the rivers connecting Karluk Lake with its tributary lakes. In 
all of the little streams falling into Karluk Lake, in which red salmon were found, 
dead fish were moderately common ; and there was an abundance of young salmon 
about 1£ inches long, which must have been hatched from eggs deposited during the 
preceding fall. Mr. Charles Hirsch stated that ‘‘in March or April the Karluk River 
is solid full for a whole month of salmon fry going down to sea.” 
I have seen salmon nests at the head of Karluk Lake in shallow water near shore 
between the mouths of two streams. The nest is a hollow circular pile of stones, and 
the eggs are placed in the crevices between the stones. In the river connecting the 
east arm of Karluk Lake with its tributary, additional nests of salmon were observed. 
In some cases streams fall down into Karluk Lake over bluffs which are too steep for 
the salmon to ascend, and the fish were spawning at the mouths of such streams. 
Extensive changes take place in the color of the red salmon as the spawning season 
approaches. After a period in fresh water the skin becomes dark and the beautiful red 
color of theflesh gives place to a paler tint. In this condition the fish hasno commercial 
value. According to Mr. Bradford, the arrival of dark-red salmon in quantities later 
in the season at Karluk indicates a decrease in the run. In the height of the 
spawning season the sides are suffused with a brilliant vermilion, and The head is 
a rich olive-green, contrasting sharply with the color of the body. The male develops 
a hump nearly as large as that of the humpback, and its jaws are greatly enlarged. 
The eggs and young of the red salmon have many enemies, and the percentage of 
fish naturally developed from eggs must be exceedingly small. Every salmon nest 
has its greedy horde of little fresh- water sculpins (otherwise known as miller’s thumbs), 
blobs, and bullheads ( Uranidea spp.), always in readiness to consume the fresh eggs. 
The shoal waters around the shores of Karluk Lake, and the shallow streams into 
which the red salmon finds its way for reproduction, contain myriads of these destruc- 
tive little sculpins. Another source of destruction to the eggs is found in the dolly 
varden trout ( Salvelinus malma ), which is only too common on the spawning-grounds 
of the salmon and consumes large quantities of eggs. The waters referred to contain, 
also, a great many sticklebacks ( Gasterosteus sp.), some of them of very large size, 
which probably destroy eggs. 
