Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/592

 568 SALMON on the sides, and beneath pearly silvery white ; there are numerous black spots above the lat- eral line ; the dorsal, pectorals, and caudal are Common Salmon (Salmo salar). dusky, the anal white, and the ventrals white externally and dusky internally ; the gill cov- ers are rounded posteriorly, and the tail is nearly square in the adult, but forked in the young ; the scales are delicate, and sunk in the thick and fatty skin. As seen in the markets they are generally not more than 8 ft. long, though they attain a much greater size. From the northern seas they enter the rivers when swollen by the rains and more or less turbid and deep, remaining for a time in the brackish estuaries; they are probably able to detect the mixture of the waters through the nos- trils, which are freely supplied with nervous filaments; they ascend during the flood, at the rate of 15 to 25 m. a day, resting in pools when the water is unfit for their progress; the females ascend before the males. Having at- tained the requisite height, as the cold weather comes on they take measures to deposit their spawn ; at this time the female becomes very large, and her silvery tints dull gray ; the male becomes thinner on the back, the nose longer, the under jaw turns up in a strong hook which enters a hollow in the nose, and the colors become brown and red. A furrow, 6 to 9 in. deep, is excavated in the bottom, principally by the female ; in this the spawn is deposited, impregnated, and covered with gravel by the fish. The spawning process consumes from 8 to 12 days, and at the end of it the fish are very much emaciated, the scales are cast off, and they retire to some quiet place to regain their strength ; in this condition they are called kelts, and are unfit for food. The eggs remain covered by the gravel all winter be- neath the ice, and begin to be hatched by the end of March or commencement of April ; experiments prove that the eggs are hatched in 114 days when the temperature of the water Young Salmon. Is at 36 F., in 101 at 43, and in 90 at 45. The young come out from the gravel when about an inch long ; these are called parr, and remain a year in fresh water ; when 4 to 6 in. long they receive the name of smolts, and are greenish gray above and silvery below, with very deciduous and delicate scales, in which state they descend to the sea ; after about two months' sojourn there they ascend the riv- ers again, weighing 2| to 4 Ibs., and are then called grilse ; they spawn during the winter, and then are entitled to the name of salmon ; descending and returning the following season, they weigh 10 to 15 Ibs., and may go on in- creasing to 60 or 70 Ibs. ; but now a salmon of 30 Ibs. is considered very large, as from the injudicious methods of fishing both in Europe and this country most are caught in the condi- tion of grilse or younger. According to Dr. Davy, the eggs retain their vitality for many hours in the air, if moist and cold (even to 32 F.), but not more than an hour if dry and at ordinary temperatures ; both the ova and young fish will bear a heat of 80 or 85 in water for a short time, but die in water above 84 or 85; they perish also in salt or brackish wa- ter. In their descent to the sea they generally remain for a time in brackish water, getting Salmon One Year Old. rid of their fresh-water parasites (crustaceans which attach themselves to their gills), and they do the same thing before they ascend the rivers, which frees them from marine parasites. This species is very extensively distributed in northern Europe and America, being found in Great Britain, the Orkneys, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland, getting access from the English channel and the northern seas by the Tweed, Tay, Severn, Loire, Rhine, Elbe, &c. ; it does not occur in rivers falling into the Mediterranean, and does not come below the 45th parallel of latitude ; in North America it frequents the rivers of Labrador, Canada, New- foundland, Nova Scotia, New England, and those of New York communicating with the St. Lawrence, ascending even to Lake Ontario. Salmon can live without access to the sea, as is seen in Sebago and other landlocked lakes of Maine, but they are of inferior size and quality. It is well known that the salmon has the power of swimming with great velocity, of stemming rapid rivers, and of jumping over dams and waterfalls of considerable height ; they have been known to spring 14 ft. out of water, and to describe a curve of at least 20 ft. in order to surmount a cascade ; if not successful at first they persevere till they succeed, unless the ob- struction be insurmountable ; these efforts they