A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 2 (of 2)Jordan, David Starr
History
A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 2 (of 2)
Jordan, David Starr
Fishes; Fishes -- Bibliography; Zoology -- History
As the season advances the difference between the males and females
becomes more and more marked, and keeps pace with the development of the
milt, as is shown by dissection. The males have (1) the premaxillaries
and the tip of the lower jaw more and more prolonged, both of the jaws
becoming finally strongly and often extravagantly hooked, so that either
they shut by the side of each other like shears, or else the mouth
cannot be closed. (2) The front teeth become very long and canine-like,
their growth proceeding very rapidly, until they are often half an inch
long. (3) The teeth on the vomer and tongue often disappear. (4) The
body grows more compressed and deeper at the shoulders, so that a very
distinct hump is formed; this is more developed in the humpback salmon,
but is found in all. (5) The scales disappear, especially on the back,
by the growth of spongy skin. (6) The color changes from silvery to
various shades of black and red, or blotchy, according to the species.
The blue-back turns rosy-red, the head bright olive; the dog-salmon a
dull red with blackish bars, and the quinnat generally blackish. The
distorted males are commonly considered worthless, rejected by the
canners and salmon-salters, but preserved by the Indians. These changes
are due solely to influences connected with the growth of the
reproductive organs. They are not in any way due to the action of fresh
water. They take place at about the same time in the adult males of all
species, whether in the ocean or in the rivers. At the time of the
spring runs all are symmetrical. In the fall all males, of whatever
species, are more or less distorted. Among the dog-salmon, which run
only in the fall, the males are hook-jawed and red-blotched when they
first enter the Strait of Fuca from the outside. The humpback, taken in
salt water about Seattle, have the same peculiarities. The male is
slab-sided, hook-billed, and distorted, and is rejected by the canners.
No hook-jawed females of any species have been seen.
On first entering a stream the salmon swim about as if playing. They
always head towards the current, and this appearance of playing may be
simply due to facing the moving tide. Afterwards they enter the deepest
parts of the stream and swim straight up, with few interruptions. Their
rate of travel at Sacramento is estimated by Stone at about two miles
per day; on the Columbia at about three miles per day. Those which enter
the Columbia in the spring and ascend to the mountain rivers of Idaho
must go at a more rapid rate than this, as they must make an average of
nearly four miles per day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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