Essays in Natural History and AgricultureGarnett, Thomas
Science
Essays in Natural History and Agriculture
Garnett, Thomas
Agriculture; Salmon; Zoology
These rules, with some modification, are applicable to the
breeding of Salmon as well as Trout; the only difference being in
the mode of placing the female fish, when obtaining the roe, and
the size of the gravel in which the spawn is deposited in the
boxes. The Salmon is too large a fish to put into the vessels in
which the diluted milt is placed, but I think that she should be
held by an assistant, in such a manner that the tail and lower
part of the body up to the vent are immersed in the water
containing the milt. And it is also very necessary to hold her
firmly, otherwise a large fish, in the struggles which it makes to
get free, is apt to upset the vessel containing the milt, and then
the experiment is at an end, at least for the time. Being held
firmly by the assistant, as above stated, the belly of the fish
must be gently pressed by the hands to promote the exclusion of
the spawn, which on exclusion must be gently stirred in the
diluted milt, to bring every grain into contact with it; but the
roe ought not to remain in contact with the milt a minute, if it
can sooner be got out, as I have found that if the diluted milt be
too strong, or if the ova remain too long in contact with it, they
become opaque, and never hatch at all, apparently because they are
over-impregnated. In the ordinary way in which Salmon and Trout
are bred, the milt must be largely diluted with water, and the
contact between the milt and ova can only be momentary, for the
streams in which these fish spawn (particularly the Salmon) are so
rapid, that the milt on exclusion must be carried away immediately.
There is another method, which is preferred by Ramsbottom, to the
one I have been describing, and it is certainly less troublesome.
This is to take the ova from the female fish in the first place
(taking care to exclude the air from it, by immersing the fish
into water up to the vent), and when all the roe has been
collected into a large bowl or basin, then mix the milt with it,
the same diluted in the proportion which has been before
described, namely, until the water which covers the roe becomes
lightly opalescent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Essays in Natural History and Agriculture — John Shaqi
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