SALMON IN TASMANIA.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 903, 28 December 1870, Page 2

SALMON IN TASMANIA.

At a recent meeting of the Tasmanian Royal Society, Mr M. Allport read the following notes on the salmon trout fsalmo truttaj at the river Plenty:—Another and important addition has, since our last meeting, been made to the history of the salmon experiment. It will be remembered that in the winter of 1869 those of the salmon trout which were detained in fresh water first spawned, and when the eggs hatched it became a question of great interest whether the fry would, in due season, exhibit the migratory instincts of their species in the same manner as if the parenjt fish had spawned after a visit to sea; and this question became of still greater interest from the doubts entertained by scientific men in England as to whether the fish detained at the Plenty were really salmon trout at all, some going so far as to assert that they could not be genuine because they had spawned, and that no migratory salmon would ever breed without the previous journey to sea. The Salmon Commissioners some time since sent to England specimens of the young fish hatched' from the first eggs laid by the salmon trout, such young fish bein» then seven months old, at which time they k exhibited in a marked degree ail the'characteristics of the par of migratory salmon, and especially the orangecolored fins, which are looked upon as peculiar to the par of the salmon trout. Had the experiment stopped at the time those young fish were sent away, many people might have jumped to the conclusion that the young fish were really, as Dr Ganther suggested, hybrids, and not salmon trout; but, fortunately, we have now in the specimen on the table the most convincing proof that these fish belong to the same migratory species of salmon, and we have, therefore, no right to doubt the statements of those who sent the eggs from which the parent fi3h was produced, and must admit that their progeny are true salmon trout. The specimen before you is a facsimile of some 300 others now in one large pond at the river Plenty, all of which have assumed the full smolt dress of brilliant scales, which dress is not only the invariable characteristic of those species which migrate seawards, but also the unerring sign that they are ready to depart Besides the <rreat fact of the filial success of the saluion trout, which this specimen abundantly proves, there is another interesting point to which we desire to call attention. Of the two smelts caught in the estuary of the Dervveut in the end of October of last year—the very same season at which this specimen has been taken from the pond—-one was sent to England and pronounced by Dr G/unther to be an abortive salmon trout ; the other was kept here, and is now before you. Upon comparing these specimens, you will find that the salmon tront smolt from the pond at the Plenty, though a healthy, well-fed, wellshaped, silvery fish, is not one fourth of the weight of its abortive brother, and they exhibit other differences which make it difficult to believe that they are identical in species. During 'the last fortnight the parent salmon trout, unhappily reduced in number to 11, and which first assumed the dvc\>Al livery three years ago, have exhibited marked restlessness at their forced detention, swimming rouad and round their pond seeking an outlet, and even throwing themselves out of the water at the lower grating in such a determined manner as to render it necessary to increase the height of the guard to prevent their escape.