38 
THE NEW YORK AQUARIUM JOURNAL; 
FISH CULTURE AT THE AQUARIUM, 
The apparatus in use in the Aquarium for 
fish culture is of the latest and most approved 
pattern, and consists of a, large wooden reser¬ 
voir divided lengthwise by a partition, in 
which are placed frames covered with a woolen 
screen which filters the water before it passes 
over the eggs. The hatching troughs, five in 
number, are placed with their heads abutting 
the reservoir and are supplied by brass cocks. 
In the troughs are placed frames covered 
with wire cloth, which, with the wood work, 
and in fact every part that the water comes 
in contact with, is coated with coal tar, which 
not only keeps the wire from rusting, but also 
prevents the jelly-like sap that always appears 
in new pine wood when under water, from 
exuding, while it also is a barrier to any 
vegetable growth upon it. 
The eggs are laid upon these wire screens, 
of which several layers can be used in each 
trough, thus increasing their capacity. Two 
of the troughs are now filled with young of 
the California Salmon from three to five 
weeks old which were hatched where they 
now lie, from eggs which were presented by 
Prof. S. F. Baird, the Commissioner on Fish¬ 
eries for the United States. They were ob¬ 
tained from his Salmon breeding ranch 
on the McCloud River, California, in charge 
of Mr. Stone, the Deputy Commissioner. 
This variety of Salmon is called by Nat¬ 
uralists the Salmo Quinnat, and from its 
oeing capable of passing through water 
that in Summer reaches a temperature of 80 
degrees Farenheit on its annual migration 
from the sea to its fresh water breeding 
grounds above, and which would kill its con- 
genor of the Adantic Coast, is more valuable 
than the latter for stocking all our rivers 
south of the Connecticut. Many millions of 
the eggs have been taken, hatched and dis¬ 
tributed ly Prof. Baird in the past two years 
but as it requires three years for this fish to 
reach matuiiiy and return to the place where 
it was deposited, it is too soon to see the re¬ 
sults yet, though many young have been 
caught during the first year that they remain 
in fresh water. 
The eggs are obtained from the living fish 
by pressure of the hand upon the abdomen, 
and such is the delicacy of touch and knowl¬ 
edge of condition acquired by an expert that 
a fish is seldom killed by them, and Mr. 
Mather states that he has taken eggs from the 
same trout for five years in succession with¬ 
out injury to them. After the eggs are taken 
in a pan that has been merely wet, a male 
fish is manipulated in the same manner over 
the eggs and in a few minutes after the addi¬ 
tion of a little water, the fecundation is com¬ 
plete and the ova is placed in a trough where 
it remains for three or four weeks, until the 
eyes can be distinctly seen and all the unim¬ 
pregnated ones picked out, when they are* 
packed in a box with a layer of fine, living 
moss, and a layer of eggs alternately until 
full—this box is then packed in a crate of hay 
or box of sawdust to keep it from changes of 
temperature and sent by express to any part 
of the world. The eggs of the California 
Salmon are the largest now handled by fish 
culturists, measuring nearly one-third of an 
inch in diameter, and as the eggs of any fish 
average about one size for each species, they 
are measured to find the number of thousands 
taken. 
It takes from forty to sixty days to hatch a 
Salmon egg, according to the temperature; a 
high one, say 70 degrees, hatching very quick¬ 
ly but leaving the fish weak. The best tem¬ 
perature is that of the spring water in which 
they are laid, perhaps, from 45 to 50 degrees. 
After hatching, the yolk of the egg remains 
attached to the abdomen for about thirty 
days, and at first is so large that the little 
embryo cannot swim with it, but it is gradu¬ 
ally absorbed and when all taken up the 
Salmon takes food for the first time. This 
rule is good for all the varieties of Salmon 
and T 'out. Som ? fish, as the Whyte fish and 
Shad, can swim as soon as hatched, although 
the sac is attached in the same manner. 
Another trough contains 25,000 eggs of the 
Lake Whitefisli, and 15,000 eggs of the Cisco 
or fresh water Herring, which were presented 
bv Mr. Geo. Clark, one of the Michigan Fish 
Commissioners, and a recent addition of the 
eggs of Whitefish, Lake, and Brook trout 
from Mr. Seth Green, Superintendent of 
Fisheries for New York, has been made, to be 
follo wed in February by the Land Locked Sal¬ 
mon from Maine the gift of Prof. Baird, these 
are all winter-spawning fish and hatch slowly 
on the trays. Shad eggs require an entirely 
different treatment, which will be explained 
in a future number of the journal. It is the 
intention of the Manage ' of the Aquarium to 
stock some of the rivers with the fish hatched 
here, thus making it useful as well as in¬ 
structive, and a valuable adjunct to the Fish 
Commission, and to this end he has engaged 
the services of the well-known Fish Culturist, 
Mr. Fred. Mather, to superintend this Depart¬ 
ment, for which he is well qualified by his long 
experience as a breeder of trout for a long 
period atHoneoye Falls, N. Y., and his work 
of Salmon and Shad hatching for the past 
three years for the Virginia, and United 
S ates Fish Commissions. 
This is one of the most interesting features 
of the Aquarium, both to the Naturalist, the 
Embryologist, aud the casual visitor. The 
newly-hatched fish is so transparent that the 
beating of the heart and circulation of the 
blood can be seen with the naked eye, and the 
development from the embryo to the perfect 
fish observed from day to day, and a wonder¬ 
ful transformation it is, for at first the little 
creature is as unlike the parent fish as a tad¬ 
pole is unlike a frog; the mouth which at 
first is only fitted to pass water to the gills is 
changed so as to take food, and the embryonic 
fin which, rising in the middle of the back, 
runs around the tail to the anal fin, is ab- 
so bed, leaving the true fins more and more 
distinct each day. A few years ago Prof. 
Agassiz discovered that the Salmon had a 
second heart situated in its tail which was 
most visible at the third day and disappeared 
about the tenth. 
It is expected that Salmon will be ready to 
take food at about six weeks old when the 
sac will have been entirely absorbed, they 
will then be in condition to find their own 
living in the streams if put in such spring 
creeks as are chosen by the parent fish as a 
place of deposit for the eggs. 
JAPANESE KINGIY0, 
The presence in the Aquarium of this won¬ 
derfully beautiful, and strangely grotesque fish, 
should be a cause for special congratulation. 
The specimen exhibited in table tank p, of the 
fresh water series, was brought from Japan by a 
gentleman who has furnished the following in¬ 
teresting facts regarding it: 
Starting from Japan with eighty-eight, he ar¬ 
rived in Baltimore with but seven, all ot which 
are now alive and in good health. The captain 
of the steamer taking great interest in his efforts 
to introduce the fish to America, built a tank on 
the steamer to accommodate them, and took in 
a supply of river water ; but it was soon found 
that the motion of the ship dashed the fish 
against the sides of the tank and many were 
lost. To obviate this a smaller tank was built 
and suspended-like the com pass, which counter- 
aeted the motion of the ship; but notwithstand¬ 
ing all the care bestowed on them only fifteen 
arrived in San Francisco, all in a very weak con¬ 
dition. Of these eight subsequently died. 
The Japanese claim that the brilliant colors 
displayed in this fish, and the wonderful de¬ 
velopment of its triple tail, is the result of many 
years careful breeding. This one is an unusually 
fine specimen. In Baltimore great care was 
taken of the seven survivors, and during the 
summer they spawned, the result being about 
fifty young fry, which exhibit all the peculiarities 
of the originals. It is the intention of the owner 
when he has a sufficient stock, to donate them 
among persons who will take an interest in them 
and carefully raise them. 
For the benefit of any of our readers v : ho have 
not as yet been able to visit the Aquarium, we 
would state that in outline and general appear¬ 
ance the above illustration, drawn from life by 
Mr. Vance, is exact and truthful in every par¬ 
ticular. The-body is red in color, similar to 
that of a brilliantly-hued gold fish ; the tail, 
however, is a pearly white, and as it rests in the 
water presents the appearance of a fine, silken 
fabric, terminating in a delicate fringe. In ad¬ 
dition to the peculiar attraction which the form 
of the fish is to the general observer, the natural¬ 
ist will find in its very existence and the tradition 
regarding its origin rheme for thoughtful study. 
If the Chinese can accomplish such lesults in 
the modification of special features, by aid of 
their crude appliances, there is every reason to 
believe that, with our more complete arrange¬ 
ments, still more marvelous results may be ob¬ 
tained. At least the attempt is to be made, and 
already the naturalist of the Aquarium has 
taken measures to apply and test the Chinese 
methods with the hope that still more valuable 
results may be secured. A careful record of 
these experiments shall be kept, and at a future 
day we shall hope to present to our readers, and 
exhibit to the public, specimens of fish, the re¬ 
sults of special culture, which will rival in 
interest the oriental beauty now on exhibition. 
