The Ottawa free trader., 1877-02-10
FISH Culture.

rea iers will gladly get hold OF the following
practical directions on the H,odits QperaRdj .
fish culture, published by Hon. Geo II. Je
rome, one Of the fish commissioners OF Mich
igan:
Fish culture, or fish production, is an in
dustrial art, requiring labor, and practice
and skill to produce soughtfor results. 1t /.
as distinc;iyely an art as is glass or iron
manufacture, or fruit production, or stock
breeding, or farming, requiring certainappl
ances and adaptations 10 obtainment OF ends
the same in one case as in the other. Not
perhaps, one of the liberal or fire arts vet
the century may not close ere the adjectIyes
liberal and fine shall not inapily qualify
our rising and cherished art. 1t has already
progressed far enough To have become the
subject of innumerable patents and copyright,
confirmation strong that il IS no weaklmg
IN aspiration and promise.
It's claim is an augmented f0Od-production
and supply-by means of which valuable
article of food, almost Indispensable toa pro.
per bone and bone development, may be
doubled, trebled, quarupled, quinnpled.
This is fish culture IN theory. la scientific
practice it involves study OF the waers TO
know at what point reformation may begin
and to what just limit 1t may be carried
study of the fishes to know their worth,
spawning seasons, peculiar habits and dneCes
sities,-an investigation of the causes Of their
| increase or decrease, as the case may be,-a
complete knowledge of one and all of those
ess entails that anledate birth, develowment
and the reproduction of valuable animal life
Then follows the manual wOrk,-the piepara
tion of ponds, races, Matching houses, supply
troughs, hatchingboxes, eggtrays, pa'tition
| screens, egg. g.nlppers. pans, dlppers, Rushes'
| feathers, etc. The master workman, whatever
| his trade or occupation, Will see TO 1t hat his
chest of tools is tull and in orderj Next
comes the procurement OF the breediag flsh
male and female, to be obtained if possible
without any bodily injury, healthy, vigorous
parents always preferred. The fish ohained
the fish-culturisi, guided by observation and
experience, will readily detect in thegravid
fish those signs that precede and derDte the
mature spawner. Carefully noticing Ae pre-
monItion indications, the porcelain pan or
tin pan is brought to the place of opsraton
containing but very little if any wafr, the
viscid fluid that accompanies the hoWof the
ova aiIording sufficient water FOrmqly wa
ter was used, but 1t is now generally dscard-
ed, 1t being thought to have the eject of
drowning the spermatozoa or life principle
of the mill. The spawner is then taught,
gently seized, and held Uf small one person
IS sufficient, but If very large two 0 more
persons are rcquired) in an oblique ,erpen
dicular position, the vent being directly over
the pan. II ripe, which means matue con
dition OF the ova, the eggs will ofth flow
into the vessel by the mere force OF gravity
or muscular contraction, without any hand
pressure or manipulation whatever !; but II
not SO yielding up her spawn, slight pres
sure with the thumb and flagers alGg the
abdomen will cause the oya to be e&ruded
This process once or twice repeated, j ma
jority of cases, will secure the entif yield
The fish is now returned to the watG 10 al.
NEST as good condition as when takn from
ii, the whole process has not occupld more
than 20 to 40 seconds.
The male tish-or Eilter, as he is termed
| by plsciculturists-is now taken tran the
tub or trough near at hand, held in similar
position, ana the manipulation, by agentie
pressure along the lower portion OF the enbdo.
men, will discover, providing the fish is ripe,
an extruslOn in the vessel containing the ova
Of Il few drops OF creamy, whitish substance,
termed milt, spermatozUa, or iertilizing tuid.
The fish Is retuI ned 10 the water, 10 pain ar
injury having resulted. A very little water
Is poured into the pan or porcelain vessd,
and the contents gently stirred with feathe,
or tremulOusly shaken IN Ii manner 10 glY
the ova rotary motion, and very soon all q
uearly all the eggs will have become pregna-
eu, vitalized. The pan IS now allowed .
stand II few minutes. The eggs meanwhile
are undergoing great changes. Prior TO tit
introduction OF the milk, Or zoosperms, tle
eggs were in manner agglutinaled and ina
tlaccid condition. Now they have becoue
enlarged, are more translucent; each egg, 10
longer coherent, is an individuality, and ,y
Of flAS atnr h,, lIit
| Nature works, are become hard to the toudl,
50 that they will roll like shot on smodh
surface. Here now we have the viviffd
germ, the embryo fish. In this state they gre
taken, cleanscd in one or two waters, and
carefully placed upon bed of gravel or upon
wire cloth trays, and with IL feather evelly
distributed over the surface, the object OF
such spreading being TO allow the clear, liv-
ing water To come continually in contact
with all the eggs, well oxygenized water be.
ing rs essential 10 a normal, healthy devdop-
ment OF the embryo as ii is material TO the
life and growth of the fish in its subsequent
stages. Now, with pure and perpetuilly
running water, filtered if necessary by One
or more flannel screens, with clean tools
clean surroundings, and with clean hands
we enter upon the work of incubation, l4bOr
lasting five, ten, forty, eighty, one hundr
and twenty udys, OF even longer, uepeLdlng
upon species and upon qualify and temper
aiure OF water. Dead eggs, easily distinguish
&C, whenever discovered are to be remo7ed,
as they produce byssus that sends Out It's
clammy, fibrUus arms, like Hugos devilhsh,
to destroy every living egg within their
reach, and all sediment and substances of
every sort foreign TO the beiore.named condi-
tions of health and growth are 10 be sedulous
| ly guarded against The eyes first appear
\ then faint embryonic structure, and soon
after "A dim outline OF the coming may be
seen, growing more and more visible each
day, Grtl some morning you see the wreck
of a habitation floating down the current, and
tiny creation, most unmistakably alive, set
tied down amid the interstices of the grayelly
bed or meshes OF the wire tray, third or
half ur three-fourths oi AN inch in length
About the most perceivable thing of this new
birth is bag or sac attached TO the belly of
the fish. This sac with the sdiao guiaRdt
is of rich piRkish color, resembling one or
two drops OF blood encased IN a semitrans-
hr., IL a.