As food-fishes the majority of the Scopelids are not of much value. The species known is an edible species, occurringas the QUEENSLAND SMELT, shown in the adjoining photograph, off the north-west coast of Australia. Its near ally, the BUMMALOE, or BOMBAY DUCK, however, enjoys a quite exceptional notoriety. Salted and dried, it is exported in large quantities

Pikes, Arapaimas, Beaked Salmon, and Scopelids 655

from Bombay and the coast of Malabar, and forms an indispensable adjunct to an Indian curry. This fish apparently inhabits considerable depths, and when freshly taken is brilliantly Australia, of which aphosphorescent. Another edible species is the "SERGEANT BAKER" of photograph is given on page 653.

With regard to the deep-sea Scopelids, it is interesting to note that, in addition to very remarkable modifications of the eyes and fins, and the production of phosphorescent light, certain of the body-cavities are characterised by an intensely black coloration. The inside of the mouth, the gills, and the lining of the abdomen, for example, are always so coloured in those fishes which inhabit the deepest abysses. This coloration is difficult to account for, but

Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.H. 1 [Milford-on-Sea.

QUEENSLAND SMELT.

A near ally of the Bummaloe, or Bombay Duck, that indispensable adjunct to an Indian curry.

it is generally supposed to be due to excretory products. Another interesting point concerns is present in the fishes of this or any other familythe air-bladder. Whenever this organ inhabiting the abysses of the ocean, it bursts before the unfortunate victim is brought to the surface, owing to the enormous differences in pressure which obtain between the depths of the sea and the surface.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE SALMON FAMILY.

BY SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, BART., F.R.S.

in the classification of fishes, yet A LTHOUGH the Salmon Family occupies a low place thereof is possessed of singular beauty of form and colour. The/y every member

ATLANTIC SALMON, which is the species frequenting European rivers and those of the eastern coast of North America, may be considered the type of the family, and certainly it would be difficult to name any animal more perfectly adapted to its peculiar mode of life, which is one of constant activity. A native of fresh-water, hatched in early spring from eggs laid in rivers during the winter months, it spends from fifteen to twenty-seven months in the shallows of the river, almost indistinguishable in habits and appearance from a small common trout. Sometimes in the second spring after its birth, and failing that, always in the third

:spring, the fish, having attained the length of 5 or 6 inches, undergoes a wonderful change its prevailing tints of olive and gold become overspread with a glittering coat of silver, known

to anglers as the " sea-jacket." and shoals of " smolts," as they are called in this stage, begin descending to the sea. In about fifteen or eighteen months, perhaps in some instances longer, they return to the inland waters a? " " grilse small salmon from 2 to 5 Ibs. in weight. Grilse and mature salmon spawn Photo by A. S. hudland tt 6o/*s. chiefly in November and SALMON-TROUT. December, undergoing, before Known also as the Sea-trout, and in Ireland as the White Trout. they do so, another strange metamorphosis. Their brilliant silvery scales become darkly discoloured, the males turning copper-colour, the females blackish and dull purple; their elegant form becoming distorted to such a degree as to render them hardly recognisable as the same fish which left the tide in the perfection of beauty. In their efforts to reach the higher waters where they spawn, salmon display extraordinary perseverance and activity in surmounting weirs, waterfalls, and other obstacles which bar their way. After spawning, the fish are emaciated and lanky, but speedily regain the bright silver hue so characteristic of the species. In this state they are usually known as "kelts"; they are worthless either for food or for sport, and make their way back to the sea, where abundant provender soon restores their condition. Their chief food consists of herrings, haddocks, and other small fishes. Dr. Kingston Barton recently recorded finding five full-grown herrings in the stomach of one salmon. Although the excellence of their flesh exposes salmon to the attacks of innumerable foes, including man, predacious fishes, seals, and cetaceans, a few survive for many years and attain to great size. Fish weighing from 30 to 40 Ibs. are far from uncommon; one of 60 Ibs. has been taken in the Tay with rod and line, and the same river has yielded one of upwards of 70 Ibs. to the nets. The fine sport afforded to anglers by the salmon causes a good beat on a prolific river to be a very valuable property. Two thousand pounds was the season's rent paid a few years ago for less than three miles of the Tweed,

!and the season happened to be such a bad one that the lessee only killed thirteen fish

Closely resembling the true salmon in habits and appearance, and sometimes rivalling it even in size, are two kinds of sea-trout the SALMON-TROUT, greatly prized both for its sporting qualities and for the excellence of its flesh, and the BULL-TROUT, a very inferior fish in both respects. Bull-trout are not infrequently taken in the Tay weighing upwards of 40 Ibs. The Pacific Ocean has its counterpart to the Atlantic salmon and sea-trout in several closely allied species, whereof the QUINNAT and the STEELHEAD are the most notable. These ascend the great rivers of Western North America in prodigious shoals, penetrating more than 2,000 miles inland to deposit their spawn. Few of these fish survive to return to the sea. In their emaciated condition they succumb to exhaustion and starvation; their corpses, piled to the height of several feet, line the banks of the river for miles, and contribute nothing to the traveller's comfort. Although Pacific salmon are of no value to the sportsman, as they are said to refuse any bait in fresh-water, yet they are the staple of an important trade, tens of thousands of tons being taken and canned for export.

If we could peer far enough back into the course of time, we should no doubt be able to identify a common stock from which all the Salmon Family are descended. That they are all natives of fresh-water is proved by the fact that they cannot reproduce their kind in the sea. Those that resort to the ocean for food must be the descendants of vigorous, roving starvation and migration, braved themembers of the family, which, having to choose between

The Salmon Family 657 perils of travel, and became so much altered in constitution by the liberal diet they found as to establish themselves as separate species.

Among the stay-at-homes there are many interesting and beautiful fishes. None of them exhibit the variable nature of the family more than the common BROOK-TROUT of British waters, and not long since men of science dignified each of these varieties by a separate title, treating them as distinct species. However, experiment and observation have now led to the almost unanimous conclusion that the pygmy denizens of some hungry Highland burn, whereof the weight must be reckoned in fractions of ounces, are of precisely the same species as the lordly trout of deep lakes, which sometimes scales as much as 25 Ibs., and as all the other innumerable varieties, such as the trout of the Thames, of the English chalk-streams, and of the Irish loughs. The quality of the soil affects the food-supply, which in turn regulates the size and appearance of the fish. Moreover, Nature seems is toindifferent to the number of individuals composing the population which the water sustain. If there are no pike, and spawning-ground is abundant, there will be many and small fish; if the contrary is the case, there will be few and large ones; the aggregate weight per acre of water will remain the same, proportioned to the food-supply. The American equivalent of the British brook-trout is the,KAINBOW-TROUT, a beautiful creature which has lately been is known as the brook-trout in America reallywidely distributed in European waters. What belongs to the CHAR group, fish of the Salmon Family, closely resembling trout, but distinguished like salmon, lose all theirfrom them by extraordinary brilliancy of colour. Common trout, beauty as the spawning-season approaches. Char, on the other hand, take gaudy colouring at that time, the whole of the under-parts becoming clear red or flame-colour. Unlike trout, British char never enter rivers, but spawn in lakes. In Norway, however, char descend to the sea. The distribution of char is indeed mysterious, nor has any explanation been offered why they inhabit certain waters, while other lakes in the neighbourhood, apparently equally suitable, contain none. The GRAYLING is an elegant member of the Salmon Family, and a deserved favourite with fly-fishers. Instead of the golden tints and scarlet spots of the brook-trout, this fish displays the silvery colouring of the salmon-trout. It is not at all uncommon to meet with grayling in the chalk-streams of Southern England weighing 3 Ibs. and upwards.

The POWAN is the type of another large group of salmon-like fishes, inhabiting lakes in the temperate and subarctic regions ofr iboth,, hemispheres. There are four species in Great Britain, among which may be mentioned the mysterious VENDACE of Loch-maben, unknown to exist elsewhere. Lastly, the is Salmon Family closed by the delicate SMELT, called in Scotland the SPARLING, which is netted in vast numbers in the estuaries of suitable Photo by W. Reid] _Wiihaw, N.B. rivers. It never

AMERICAN SALMON-TROUT FROM DIAMOND LAKE, NEW ZEALAND.

ascends beyond the These fish were taken out of the water to be photographed, and then put back again. highest point of the 83

is a gratifying tribute lo the tide, where it deposits its spawn in the spring months. It good work done of late years by the local authorities in purifying the Thames that, after a long absence, this valuable fish has reappeared in that river, which it now ascends in considerable numbers as high as Teddington Weir.

Much discussion has taken place recently with regard to the question whether salmon feed while in fresh-water. it was Not long ago announced that they suffered from a diseased condition of the stomach during this period, and were consequently quite unable to feed. Subsequently it was found that the supposed dis- Photo liy A. S. Rudland & Sons. eased condition of the SMELT. stomach was due to theThis fish is remarkable for its peculiar smell when freshly caught, which resembles that of the cucumber. fishes not being perfectly fresh when they were examined. It is now known that although salmon do not feed freely in fresh-water, yet they take a certain amount of nutriment, such as an occasional shrimp, flyr or even small fish, while there.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE HERRING AND ITS KINDRED.

BY F. G. AFLALO, F.Z.S.

" \7' INGr HERRING," as the trade-paper of the fishing industry rightly calls it, is one of 1 \ the chief commercial fishes of the British seas, and the enormous North Sea herring fisheries probably support more boats and men from all parts than any other. Europe has no very large herring; but the TARPON of the Mexican coast, as well as another giant which occurs in the northern waters of Australia, grows to an enormous size. All the members of the Herring Family feed and travel near the surface of the sea, and are therefore caught in drift-thenets, miles of which are " shot " a few fathoms from the top of the water, catching shoaling-fish in their meshes. All of them, too, are wanderers, most capricious in their goings and comings. Hence the uncertainty of the fisherman's wage.

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