The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1855-07-26
Fishes and their Migration.

Fishes and their Migration.
From an interesting article in the April
number of Putnam's Monthly, entitled
mature in Motion" we clip the following
paragraph -
For known and unknown purposes, in
the tiny mountain brooks and in the wide
ocean, fishes are seen in unceasing mo-
ton, darting in all directions, now single
and now shoals. Their regular journeys
are mostly undertaken for the purpose of
spawning; the delicate mackerel moves
southwark when its time comes, and the
beautiful sardine of the Mediterranean
goes in the spring westward, and returns
in the autumn to the east.
The sturgeon of Northern Europe is
seen singly to ascend the great rivers of
the continent, and the ornal and migrate
fry salmon of the Polar seas travel, we
know not how, up through the river and
lake, into the Baikal, and there swims, in
whimsical alterations, but always in i'm
mense crowds, first on the southern, and
then on the northern bank.
The travels Of the salmon are probably
best known, because the fish was favor
lite already in the days of Pliny, and yet,
strangely enough, is found in every sea in
the Arctic, near the equator, and off New
Holland, only not in the Mediterranean
They press in large triangular masses, up
all the great northern rivers of Europe,
Asia and North America. They enter
the water of Bohemia with Shakespeare by
sea, sailing up the river Elbe; they ap-
proach Switzerland in the green in the
Rhine, and even at the foot Of the Cor
dilleras by journey of 5000 miles up the
Amazon!
Their crowds are not unfrequetly SO
dense that they actually stem for awhile
the current Of the mighty river; still their
bands are formed with great regularity.
The strongest and largest females lead
fact which will rejoice the strong mind
ed women of our agc-followed by others
Of tho same sex, travelling two and two at
intervals; after them come the males in
like order.
With a noise like the distant roaring of
the storm, they rush up the stream, now
sporting il easy graceful motion, and now
darting ahead with lightning speed that
the eye can not follow Do they come to
some rock or wall that impedes their way,
they leap with incredible force, and re-
peat the effort until they have overcome
the difficulty; it is even said that, at the
foot of the cataracts, they will take their
tails IN their mouth, ard then suddenly
letting it 90, like an electric spring, rise
twelve or fifteen feet in the air. And
thus they travel Cd, undismayed and un-
tired, until they hare found a suitable
place for depositiDg their eggs, and with
the same marvellous instinct, return year
after year, to the distant ocean.
The herring is = small Insignificant fish,
yet it gives food to millions and employ
ment to not less than 5000 decked vessels,
not to speak Of all the open boats employ
ed in the same fishery. Where their
home is, man does not know; it is only
certain that they are not met with beyond
a certain degree Of northern latitude, and
that the genuine herring never enters the
Mediterranean, and hence remained un-
known to the ancients. In April and
June, al Of sudden, innumerable mass
es appear in the northern seas, forming
vast banks, often thirty miles long and
ten wide. Their depth has never been
satisfactorily ascertained, and their dense
ness may be judged by the fact that Ian
ccs and harpoons thrust in them sink not
and move not, but remain standing up
right! Divided into banks herrings also
move in certain order. Long before
their arrival, already their coming is no.
ticcd by the focks Of sea birds that watch
them on high, while sharks are seen to
sport around them, and thick oily or
slimy substance is spread over their col
umns coloring the sea in the daytime, and
shining with a mild, mysterious light, in
dark, still night.
The sea-ape, the "monstrous chimera'
of the learned, precedes them, and is
hence called By the fishermen the king Of
the herrings; then there are first seen sim
file males, often three or four days in ad
vance of the great army; next follow the
strongest and largest, and after them en-
ormous shoals, countless like the sands on
the sea shore and the stars in the heavens
They seek places that abound in stones
and marine plants, where to spawn, and
like other animals, they frequent the To-
calities to which they have been accus
toned at regular time, so that they may
be expected as surely as the sun rises and
sets.
Other fishes have strange pecu!iarities
connected with their travels. Thus we
are told that the mackerel spend their
winter in what would appear to others, u
most uncomfortable position. In the Arc
tic as well as the Mediterranean, as soon
as winter comes, they deliberately plunge
their head and the anterior part of their
body in deep mud. keeping their tails
erect, standing straight up This posi-
ton they DO not change until spring, when
they emerge in incredible numbers from
their hiding places, and 60 southward for