THE ACCLIMATISATION OF SALMON.

Otago Witness, Issue 1950, 4 April 1889, Page 28

THE ACCLIMATISATION OF SALMON.

Now that there is every probability of salmon being successfully acclimatised, I would draw the attention of anglers and others to the remarks of Edward Hamiltoo.,M.D., the well-known salmon expert, who is contributing a series of articles to " The Fishing Gazette/ THE SALMONIDiB. Mr Russell ("The Salmon," 1864) says ! " Every schoolboy on the banks of the Tweed knows at a glance the ■ difference between the smolt of the salmon and of the bull trout, the black fin and the orange fin." Dr Gunther (" Evidence on Trial," June 4, 1872) says : " There is a distinction between the young Salmon solar (the salmon) and a member of the Farios or trout. In the parr of the former I have counted as many as nine or 10 crossbars, and in the latter only six or seven." Mr Cholmondeley Pennell ("Angler Naturalist ") says : " According to Sir W. Jardine the fry of the common trout, 8. fario, , may always be distinguished from that of either of the the three migratory species by its having the extremity of the second dorsal or adipose fin fringed with orange — a mark easily identified." Mr Shaw (keeper to the Duke of Buccleugh) was really the first person who demonstrated the identity of the salmon and parr. Putting aside the internal evidences of distinction between the different kinds of parr, that which is most essential to the angler is the external appearance by which he would be able at once to recognise whether he was doing a legal or an illegal act by basketing the fish he has caught. As far as we can judge from'studying the evidences of various writers it that:— In the salmon parr tke body is' long and graceful ; the head and snout longer ; the parr marks (transverse dark bands) very distinct, and separated by broad intervals ; the pectoral fins narrow, aud with the ventral and anal, of a dusky hue ; the tail much forked. In the migratory trout the body is thick and short; the head and snout' more rounded; the dorsal fin often spotted ; the pectoral broad, and with the ventral and anal orange colours; the adipose fin tinged at the end a light orange ; the tail but little forked. In the river or brook trout the body is long and not so shapely ; the head short ; the , snout very obtuse ; the eye large ; the dorsal fin spotted'; the adipose fin with a scarlet red tip ; the tail square and but little forked. To the inexperienced, and even to Borne of the experts, the absolute certainty of the distinction is often a matter of difficulty. Mr Willis Bund (" Salmon Problems") writes : •• 1 recollect once hearing a man tried for taking samlets. He was very well defended; and the solicitor asked the witness, who swore postively to the fish being a samlet, if he could always identify a samlet from the trout? To my horror, the witness said ' Yes.' ' Are your sure ?' 1 Certain ; I could not mistake/ Four bottles were then produced, marked A, B, C, and D. In these were fish preserved in spirits. The witness was asked, 4 What was A ?' — • Samlet.' ♦B?'—« Samlet.' ' C ?'— • Trout.' •DP'-.'Sam-let'; and he atuck to it, and pointed out the distinctions to the court. For the defence, a witness was called who had bred the fish and placed them in the bottles. They were all four the same, and hybrids. lam bound to say that I was very nearly falling into the trap myself, and should certainly have said the fish were nob the same, only I considered D was the trout, and the other three samlets, It is only, however, very rarely that these cases occur ; usually any person who has had any experience can tell a samlet without any doubt." According to the Salmon Act of 1801', the names given or applied to the young of the salmon (8. salar) are : fry, samlet, smolt, smelt, skirling or skarling, parr, spawn, pink, last spring, kepper, last brood gravelling, shed, scad, blue fin, black tip. fingerling, brandling, brandling, or by any other name, local or otherwise—evidently a determination to take a more provincial name. Surely a more simple way of defining " What is ft young salmon ?" might have been arrived it. Mr George Rooper (in the last edition of " The Thames and Tweed ") says : « The fry in its early stage is . barred. ancL improperly called a parr. The true parr, Salmo samulus, of Linnaeus, Yarrell, and maDf other authors, differs materially from the salmon parr, but they, are, sufficiently like for confusion; and much confusion and much bitter discussion have ensued from' the two fish being called by the same name." Mr Rooper believes, or did believe, in the existence of the Salmo samuius as a distinct species, sod he points out the distinction of the two in Land and Water, in answer to Mr Walsh:— "Th* transverse bars on Salmo sdmulus are more numerous, more strongly marked, longer, and narrower than the parr of the salmon. The colour of the eye is totally different, though I cannot describe the difference. The gill covers of the Scdmo salmulus are invariably spotted, those of the smolt parr are never. The pectoral fins are longer, larger, and stronger; as befits the fish that 'rides the raok,' and habitually frequents streams the infant salmon could not for its life ascend." — Btjckland, "Britten Fishes," p. 318. "' ■<*

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