ACCLIMATISATION OF SALMON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5347, 27 August 1895, Page 4

ACCLIMATISATION OF SALMON.

The North Otago Times says :— Salmon or not salmon; that was the question. At last the local Acclimatisation Society has learned something of the oharacter of the fish in the Waitaki Biver. For a long time doubts have' existed in the minds of anglers as to the. characteristics of the fish they caught. Although they were not experts they could see that there were two distinct kinds of fish in the river, and Borne of them went so far as to affirm that the fish that did not bear out all the characteristics of the trout were a cross between the trout and the salmon. However, to set all donbts at rest the looal Acclimatisation society sent Home to the editor of tha Field* case of fish by the s.s. Matatua. One of the fish has been declared to be an American salmon, bo that the fact of salmon having been successfully acclimatised is set at rest. The editor of the Field Bent the box of fish to Dr Gunther and Mr Boulenger, two of the ablest experts in Great Britain, and they have declared all the fish trout save one, and that one is described as an American salmon. For commercial purposes the American salmon is as useful a fish as the English salmon, for nearly all the tinned salmon that comes to this country is from America Many of the acclimatisation societies in the colonies have made efforts to acclimatise the American and English salmon, and ib is satisfactory to know that with one kind at least a successful result has been achieved. If the American salmon is a denizen of the Waitaki Biver there is no reason why it should not be in all the rivers of the South Island, for if it will live in one it wonld naturally be thought it would live in all.