The eggs of many salmon placed on ice to retard their development have been success fully transported to great distances. The king salmon has been thus transferred from Cali fornia to Australia. It has been found possible to stock rivers and lakes with desirable species, or to restock those in which the fish-supply has been partly destroyed, through the means of artificially impregnated eggs.
Fishes have little power to reproduce lost parts. Only the tips of fin-rays or filaments are thus restored after injury. Sometimes a fish in which the tail has been bitten off will sur vive the injury. The wound will heal, leaving the animal with a truncate body, fin-rays some times arising from the wounds.
Fishes as Food for Among all races of men fishes are freely eaten as food, either raw, as usually preferred by the Japanese and Hawaiians; or else as cooked, salted, dried or otherwise preferred The flesh of most fishes is white, flaky, read ily digestible, and with an agreeable flavor. Some, as the salmon, are charged with oil, which tends to give an orange hue known as salmon-color. Others have colorless oil which may be of various consistencies. Some have dark red flesh, which usually contains a heavy oil that becomes acrid when stale. Some fishes, as the sharks, have tough, coarse flesh. Some have flesh which is watery and coarse; some are watery and tasteless. Some, otherwise ex cellent, have the muscular area, which consti tutes the chief edible part of the fish, filled with small bones.
The writer has tasted most of the noted food fishes of the northern hemisphere. First in the ranks as a food-fish (when properly cooked, for he is no judge of raw fish) he would place the eulachon or candlefish (Thaleichthys pacificus). This little smelt, about a foot long, ascends the Columbia River, Frazer River, and streams of Southern Alaska in the spring, in great num bers, for the .purpose of spawning. Its flesh is white, very delicate, charged with a white and very agreeable oil, readily digested, and with a sort of fragrance peculiar to the species.
Next to this he is inclined to place the ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis), a sort of dwarf salmon, which runs in similar fashion in the rivers of Japan and Formosa. The ayu is about as large as the eulachon, and has similar flesh, but with little oil and no fragrance.
Very near the first among sea-fishes must come the pampano (Trachinotus rarolinus) of the Gulf of Mexico with firm, white, finely flavored flesh.
The red surmullet of Europe (Mullus bar batus) has been long famed for its delicate flesh, and may perhaps be placed next. TVp
related species in Polynesia, the Upeneus bifas ciatus and Upeneus porphyreus, are scarcely inferior to it.
Side by side with these belongs the white fish (Coregonus clupeiformis) of the Great Lakes. Its flesh, delicate, slightly gelatinous, moderately oily, is extremely agreeable. It has long been known among hunters that one can eat the flesh of this fish longer than any other without the feeling of cloying. The salmon cannot be placed in the front rank because, however excellent, the stomach soon becomes tired of it.
The Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus maculatus), with flesh at once rich and delicate; the great opah (Lampris luna), still richer and more delicate; the bluefish (Pomatomus salta trix), similar, but a little coarser; and the king fish (Scomberomorus cavalla) firm and well flavored, represent the best of the fishes allied to the mackerel.
The shad (Alosa sapiditsima), with its sweet, tender, finely oily flesh, stands also near the front among food-fishes, but it runs above all others in the matter of small bones. The weakfish (Cynoscion regalis) and numerous relatives rank first among those with tender, white, savorous flesh. Among the bass and perch-like fishes, common consent places near the first the striped bass (Roccus lineatus), the bass of Europe (Dicentrarchus labrax) the su suki of Japan (Lateolabrax japonicus), the red tai of Japan (Pagrosomus major), the sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephaius), the muttonfish or pargo criollo of Cuba (Luttansts analis), the European porgy (Parisi paQrus), the uku (Aprion vsrescens) of Hawaii, the spadefish (Chatodipterus faber), and the black bass (Micropterus dolomieu).
The various kinds of trout have been made famous the world over. All are attractive in form and color; all are gamy' all have the most charming of scenic surroundings; and finally, all are excellent as food-fishes—not in the first rank, perhaps, but well above the second. Notable among these are the European chars (Salvelinus alpinus), the American speckled trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), the dolly varden (Salvelinus malma), and the oquassa trout (Sal velinus oquassa). Less attractive are the true trout, the brown trout or Forelle in Europe (Salmo fario); the rainbow trout or steelhead (Salmo irideus), the Tahoe trout (Salmo hen shawl), and the cutthroat trout (Salmo clarkii) in America; and the Ito-uwo (Hucho perryi) of Japan. Not least of all these is the grayling (Thymallus), of different species in the streams of northern regions.