Bass, Pike, Perch, and OthersHenshall, James A. (James Alexander)
Science
Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others
Henshall, James A. (James Alexander)
Fishes; Fishing
Lewis and Clark were both remarkable for clear and correct descriptions
of the animals and plants met with during their journey, many of which
were new to science; but as they neglected to give them scientific
names, others have reaped the honors of many of their discoveries. I
published my identification of the fish in question as being undoubtedly
the grayling, and soon afterward received a letter from Dr. Coues,
congratulating me and indorsing my opinion, which he said was certainly
correct.
The Montana grayling is found only in the tributaries of the Missouri
River above the Great Falls. In Sheep and Tenderfoot creeks, tributaries
of Smith River, in the Little Belt Mountains, it is fairly abundant, as
it is likewise in the three forks of the Missouri,--the Gallatin,
Madison, and Jefferson rivers. Its ideal home is in several tributaries
at the head of Red Rock Lake, swift gravelly streams, and especially in
the upper reaches of the Madison above the upper cañon, where the
water is rapid, though unbroken, the bottom being dark obsidian sand,
with a succession of pools and shallows. I have taken fish weighing two
pounds in Beaver Creek, in the upper cañon, which is also an ideal
stream. Such situations are peculiarly adapted to the grayling, being
preferred to the broken water of rocky streams so much favored by trout.
The Montana grayling is a trimmer-built fish than its Michigan cousin,
being not quite so deep, proportionally, and with larger scales. Its
dorsal fin is about the same height, but with one or two less rays.
Its back is gray, with purplish reflections; sides lighter, with lilac,
pink, and silvery reflections; belly pearly white. It has a few
irregularly-shaped black spots on the anterior part of the body, but
none posteriorly as sometimes on the Michigan grayling. It has two
oblong dark blotches in the cleft of the lower jaw, and a heavy dark
line running from the ventrals to the pectoral fin; these markings are
more pronounced in the male, being quite faint or wanting in the female.
The dorsal fin has a rosy-red border, six or seven rows of roseate,
roundish spots, ocellated with white, and gray blotches form lines
between the rows of red spots; in the upper, posterior angle of the
dorsal fin are several larger oblong rosy spots; the ventral fins have
three rose-colored stripes along the rays; the pectoral and anal fins
are plain; the caudal fin is forked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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