SALMON FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 
37 
The color variations in this trout are remarkable ; some examples are nearly black, 
others are brown with vermilion spots, still others are gray, with chain-like markings. 
In the Great Lakes the usual color is brownish gray, profusely dappled with whitish 
blotches. On account of its wide range, it naturally runs into many varieties of form 
and color, and adult individuals differ greatly in size in different localities. It is said 
that individuals weighing 120 pounds have been taken, but the average weight in the 
Great Lakes will probably not exceed 15 pounds, and an example weighing 80 pounds 
is regarded as the largest one ever taken in Lake Superior. The extreme weight 
above mentioned is given on the authority of Dr. Richardson, whose observations were 
made in Arctic North America. The Alaskan examples which I have seen were com- 
paratively small, but Mr. Townsend and others who obtained these specimens state 
that the species grows to a large size in that Territory. 
The lake trout is a voracious and predatory species. It associates with the white 
fish and lake herring, which constitute the principal part of its food. It devours other 
species of fish of suitable size, including the burbot or lake lawyer. Among the 
singular articles which have been found in the stomach of this trout are “an open 
jackknife (7 inches long, which had been lost by a fisherman a year before at a. 
locality 30 miles distant), tin cans, raw potatoes, chicken and ham bones, salt pork, 
corn cobs, spoons, silver dollars, a watch and chain, and in one instance a piece of 
tar rope 2 feet long. In the spring wild pigeons are often found in their stomachs. 
It is thought that these birds frequently become bewildered in their flight over the 
lakes, and become the prey of the trout.” 
The lake trout appears to spawn only in the lakes, and not in rivers tributary 
to them. In lakes Michigan and Superior spawning takes place late in October, on 
rocky shoals and reefs, in water 70 to 90 feet deep. The eggs are said to be deposited 
in clefts in the rocks, into which they settle and remain until hatched. The young 
make their appearance in January or early in the spring, in water of a temperature of 
47° Fahr. The hatching has been known to take place about the end of January. 
The late James W. Milner found some hatching- grounds at the head of Lake Huron, 
in depths of from 7 to 90 feet on rock bottoms. In a female weighing 24 pounds he 
counted 14,943 eggs. 
In Lake Michigan Mr. Milner found that the lake trout, except in the spawning 
season, remains in the deepest part of the lake, and in their fall migrations they do 
not ascend the rivers nor are they found in outlets of the lakes. In northern Lake 
Michigan the fish are caught through the ice in winter in depths of more than 180 feet. 
The Indians of Sault Ste. Marie spear the lake trout through the ice, first decoying 
them within reach by means of a decoy of wood or lead roughly shaped like a fish. 
In Alaska the lake trout becomes very plump, and on account of its great size 
and the good quality of its flesh it is a very important source of food for the natives. 
It has not at present any importance in the commercial fisheries, but must become a 
valuable market species in the future. 
The Dolly Varden Trout ( Salvelinus malma). Plate vi, Fig. 2. 
This handsome species bears a very close resemblance to the sea trout of Labra- 
dor. It is known to commerce under the name of salmon trout. The Russian name 
of the species is goletz , and in Kamchatka it is the malma. In western Montana it is 
known as salmon trout and bull trout, the latter name being current also in California. 
