Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/548

SALMON. the open sea. The run of the king salmon begins generally at the last of March; it lasts, with various modifications and interruptions, until the actual spawning season, August to November, the time of running and the proportionate amount in each of the subordinate runs varying with each different river. In the Sacramento the run is greatest in the fall, and greater in the summer than in spring. The spring salmon ascend only those rivers which are fed by the melting snows from the mountains, and which have sufficient volume to send their waters well out to sea. Those salmon which run in the spring are chiefly adults (supposed to be mostly four years old). It would appear that the contact with cold fresh water, when in the ocean, in some way causes them to run toward it, and to run before there is any special influence to that end exerted by the development of the organs of generation. High water on any of these rivers in the spring is always followed by an increased run of salmon. The manner of spawning is probably similar for all the species. Usually the fishes pair off; the male, with tail and snout, excavates a broad, shallow ‘nest’ in the gravelly bed of the stream, in rapid water, at a depth of one to four feet; the female deposits her eggs in it, and after the exclusion of the milt the pair cover them with stones and gravel. They then float down the stream tail foremost, never swimming down stream or making any effort to reach the sea. In the course of from a day to a week or two all of them, both males and females, die, regardless of the distance of their spawning beds from the sea. The young hatch in from 120 to 180 days.

The salmon of all kinds in the spring are silvery, and the mouth is about equally symmetrical in both sexes. As the spawning season approaches the female loses her silvery color, becomes more slimy, the scales on the back partly sink into the skin, and the flesh changes from salmon-red, and becomes variously paler from the loss of oil, the degree of paleness varying much with individuals and with inhabitants of different rivers. In the Sacramento the flesh of the quinnat, in either spring or fall, is rarely pale. In the Columbia a few with pale flesh are sometimes taken in spring, and a good many in the fall. In Fraser River the fall run of the quinnat is nearly worthless for canning purposes, because so many are ‘white-meated.’ In the spring very few are ‘white-meated,’ but the number increases toward fall, when there is every variation, some having red streaks running through them, others being red toward the head and pale toward the tail. The red and pale ones cannot be distinguished externally, and the color is dependent upon neither age nor sex. There is not much difference in the taste, but there is no market for pale-fleshed salmon.

As the season advances, the difference between the males and females becomes more and more marked, and keeps pace with the development of the milt, as is shown by dissection. The males have (1) the premaxillaries and the tip of the lower jaw more and more prolonged, both of the jaws becoming finally strongly and often extravagantly hooked, so that either they shut by the side of each other like shears, or else the mouth cannot be closed. (2) The front teeth become very long and canine-like, their growth proceeding very rapidly, until they are often one-half inch long. (3) The teeth on the vomer and tongue often disappear. (4) The body grows more compressed and deeper at the shoulders, so that a very distinct hump is formed; this is more developed in the humpback and dog salmon, but is found in all. (5) The scales disappear, especially on the back, by the growth of spongy skin. (6) The color changes from silvery to various shades of black and red, or blotchy, according to the species. The distorted males are commonly considered worthless, rejected by the canners and salters, but are preserved by the Indians. These changes are due solely to influences connected with the growth of the reproductive organs. They are not in any way due to the action of fresh water. They take place at about the same time in the adult males of all species, whether in the ocean or in the rivers. At the time of the spring runs all are symmetrical. In the fall all males, of whatever species, are more or less distorted.

As already stated, the economic value of any species depends in great part on its being a ‘spring salmon.’ It is not generally possible to capture salmon of any species in large numbers until they approach the rivers, and the spring salmon enter the rivers long before the growth of the organs of reproduction has reduced the richness of the flesh. The fall salmon cannot be taken in quantity until their flesh has deteriorated; hence, the dog salmon is practically almost worthless, except to the Indians, and the humpback is little better. The silver salmon, with the same breeding habits as the dog salmon, is more valuable, as it is found in the inland waters of Puget Sound for a considerable time before the fall rains cause the fall runs, and it may be taken in large numbers with seines before the season for entering the rivers. The quinnat or Chinook salmon, from its great size and abundance, is more valuable than all the other fishes on our Pacific coast outside of Alaska taken together. The blueback, a little inferior in flesh, much smaller and far more abundant when Alaska is considered, is worth more than the combined value of the three remaining species of salmon. The pack of blueback salmon for 1903 is valued at $8,000,000, the catch of the quinnat at nearly $4,000,000.

The fall salmon of all species, but especially of the dog, ascend streams but a short distance before spawning. They seem to be in great anxiety to find fresh water, and many of them work their way up little brooks only a few inches deep, where they perish miserably, floundering about on the stones. It is the prevailing impression that the salmon have some special instinct which leads them to return to spawn on the grounds where they were originally hatched, but there is no evidence of this. It seems more probable that the young salmon hatched in any river mostly remain in the ocean within a radius of 20 to 100 miles of its mouth. These, in their movements about in the ocean, may come into contact with the cold waters of their parent river, or perhaps of any other river, at a considerable distance from the shore. In the case of the quinnat and the blueback, their ‘instinct’ seems to lead them to ascend these fresh waters, and in a majority of cases these waters will be those in which the fishes in question were originally spawned. Later in the season the growth of the reproductive organs leads them to approach the shore and search for fresh waters, and still the chances are