What is a Ferox?

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13840, 27 February 1909, Page 1 (Supplement)

What is a Ferox?

OF INTEREST TO ANGLERS (,'-»"<; rtcotoinan.'V

In the reports from our angling centres winch appear every season m tlie coloirins of tue daily and weekly, Jfrcss, we are constantly meeting with an old familiar friend, tlie ferox, or the sahuo ferox, on one occasion even xhe silver ferox; and should the question arise, let us say in the smoking-room of some Highland hotel, as to wiiat- a ferox is, tlie reply will usually he 'something to the effect that it is a peculiar species of trout round only in certain large and deep lochs, growing to a "great? size, and of such innate ferocity as to deserve the specific • title that has been affixed to it. Ifc may be of interest to inquire as to what grounds, if any, there are for this widespread, belief- in the existence of a distinct species—the so-call-ed ferox.

The extremely plastic nature of the whole family, of salmonidae is well known to all anglers and naturalists who-have made any study of the question. It is doubtful whether any other family "of vertebrates is so easily influenced and altered in outward appearance by the varying conditions of its surroundings. Hence there have always existed the most- divergent views as to the question of the number of species in this family. Thus in 1836 Yarrell. enumerates six separate species of British salmonidae including not only the great lake trout or ferox, but also the parnot, at thnt v date recognised as being merely the early stage of the salmon. So also Jardine in 1839, while Agassiz (Reports, British Association) already in 1834 admitted only three species-—the salmon, the sea trout, and the common brown trout. But the passion for the sub-division of species seems to have an extraordinary attrac-'' tion for some minds. In the Catalogue of Fishes (British Museum), ISB6, Dr. Gunther divided the genus salmo into vn fewer than six non-micrrntorv or fresh-water species, among which latter of course, the ferox figures. On the. other hand, Dr. Francis Day, in "British and Irish. Pishes," 1880-4—a work which to this day holds its position as the standard of authority—reduced the number to three—the B.ilr»nji. the sea trout, with 'ts varieties, as the brown trout, T.oeh Levon trout, etc., and the chai —thus showing close no-mnmpvit with the veiws of Agassiz published half a century earlier. Now, in order to determine the fiuestion as to whether a certain form in entitled to specific, or inorejy to varietal rank, it is first of all necessary to define with exactitude what it is that constitutes a species; and it is very doubtful whether a better or more o„t!invit.itat ; vo definition can bo found than that adopted by Dr. Day (op. Cit.,Vol. 1., C. 55): " [ shall consider species among the true salmons to be an assemblage of individuals which agree together in their structure and in the development of the sexes, hut differ in some structural character from all other fishes."

Taking then this definition with its weighty authority as our tost, lot us proceed to inquire in how far the socalled separate species salmp ferox fulfills its requirements. The. structural characters which have been chiefly' relied on sis indicating specific differences in the varying forms of our salmonidae are chiefly as follows: —The. number of vertebrae. —Now of these, according to Dr. Uunther, the number in the common or brook trout ranges from 57 to CU, and in salmo ferox from 5G to 57; but Day records instances in undoubted brown trout where they ran from 56 to 60. So, too, with the number of caecal appendages, of which Gunther assigned 43 to 4!) to ferox, and from 33 to 47 to fario; but Day found instances of from 33 to' 01 caeca in the common trout; so that the. inconsistency of these tests is at once apparent. The same result is also arrived at in the nest proposed t es t,—viz., the number of rays in tail and fins, as well as in another relating to the arrangement of the vomerine teeth. In both these latter eases the results are again so varied and inconstant as to- make it evidently impossible to base any safe conclusions thereon as to specific differences. Colour will be at once admitted by all to be a hopeless test; all know the infinite ! variety, of colouration and marking in

trout from the same lake, or even from the same pool of a river. We come then to this, that after the most painstaking researches by many eminent naturalists, no one constant and certain difference of structural character has been discovered as between the brown trout and the so-called ferox.

If one listens to gillies and boatmen, no doubt one will- be told • of various infallible methods of distinguishing the "ferok" from the "trout," but the curious point is-that no two of them will be. found to agree upon the matter. The present writer remembers well his own first experience with such a fish, many long years ago, upon Loch. Awe. Rowing down to the " Crow Island," ■a short, thick, handsome trout of some -oil) or (lib'weight was caught, and at lunch time on said island became the subject of ■animate'd debate, among the 'boatmen, there assembled; but the question was set" at' rest —at' least to their satisfaction —by the dictum of the oldest, who pronounced it t° be. most certainly a " ferok," ." because it had five large black spots on the gill-cov-ers." It "seems to have come to this on some Highland lochs, that any'trout above a certain weight caught by trolling must be a ferox; if caught on a fly it is a "trout." But. apparently the necessity of some considerable weight is now abandoned, for a Jerox of 1-J-lb has before now- been recorded in the columns of "The Scotsman," and in a recent report from Lairg six ferox, weighing together lojlb are mentioned. The most convincing proof of all, however, so far as the writer is concerned, is that it has been his own experience to see the great so-called ferox developed in a few years from the insignificant fmgerling-trout of a Highland hill burn. Just thirty years ago a party of, anglers found themselves, as was their wont; on a summer holiday in ' Sutherland;-and the weather being too fine for fishing, it was resolved to carry out a'long-deferred intention of "stocking " with trout a chain of three small lochs'lying high up on the hills, and till then absolutely devoid of fish life. Some little brown trout were caught high up in a precipitous .mountain burn where no spawning trout from the large loch below could possibly ascend, and were duly liberated in these little lochs, the average weight of the little trout being some seven or eight to- the lib. Twelve months later one of these trout was caught—a bar of burnished silver, and weighing just lib. Another year passed, and again the "wee lochios " were visited, and again from the very some projecting rock and by the same hand (now, alas! long still) a trout was hooked and safely landed, of which the. counterfeit presentment lies before the writer. Just If).] inches long, perfect in shape and colour, it weighed 4ilb. But mark the sequel, which may best be told in the words of a lette'r from Mr J. A. HarvieBrown, read at a. meeting of the. Scottish Fisheries Improvement Association" in 1884—he having been, with the present writer, a member of the party who originally stocked the lochs: " They developed huge fins and square or rounded tails, lost all spots, took on. a coat of dark slime, grew huge teeth, and became ' feroces' in that, short time. The common burjn trout taken from a very high - rocky burn up in the hills in two years came indistinguishable from .salmo ferox. The first year they grew to about lib of ljlb, took-on-a .bright silvery sheen of scales, were deep and highshouldered, lusty and powerful, more resembling Loch Leven trout than any others. This was when their, feeding and condition were at their best; but as food decreased and they rapidly increased in 'lfumbor, .spawning in im-. mense quantities, and with no enemies, the larger fish began to prey upon the. smaller, grew big teeth, swam deep and lost- colour, grew large fins and a big., head, and became..salirip lej-ox, so-, called. In'two-years iuore the food supply became exhausted, arid now" (1884 : ) "the chain of lochs holds nothing but huge lanky, kelty-looking fish, and swarms of. diminutive 'black-nebs,' neither of the- sorts deserving of the anglers' ltotice." - -■ . , In the large lakes of the Continent a.tnput. is found growing to a great size, sometimes termed salmo lacustries; and Berkenhout (1795) supposes, probably, with truth, that- our ' N ' great lake trout" is-identical with it. Jardine- and Selby, with the tendency to subdivision of'species so prevalent m their day, gave to.it the specific name of S. ferox; but Moreau observes that "la truite feroce, Trutta ferox, est une simple varieto de la Truite. vnlgaire et nullement une espoce particuhere. J)r Day after all our best authority to this'day, comes to this very distinct conclusion : ~ " In fact, the great lake trout of, Genova is the salmo ferox of lakes in Wales, the North of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and merely a form of our fresh-water trout." It has been' sufficiently shown, one would think, that the so-called salmo ferox agrees in structure and m the development of the sexes with _ the ordinary brown trout, and differs fi<>m it in none, the test with which ve set out at the beginning of this niqmrv; but, once an error has taken root it is proverbially difficult to erad.cate it! and so long as it is a matter of sell-interest to hotel-keeners, »>o»tme», and-others to. proclaim that thou wn ters-hold a rare fish of great size and feroeitv i«*t so lon- may one expect o meet with our old Wend salmo. fario; , " '