The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1880-06-19
cur @liu.
how FIsh Find thsir Own Rirsr..

The long held aud only recently rejected
theury, that the shoals of fishes moved in
a vast mass along the eoast, sending of
detachments into each river as they passed
its mouth, is 10 be attributed 10 John Gil
pin aud some other authors, who have
written howingly on the subject. Tho re-
cent careful investigations Of naturalists
indicate that the anadromous fishes. those |
entering the rivers aud fresh bodies Of wa
ter from the sea do not have an extended |
range in the ocean, and that each rivers
COLONY remains, after returning, In the
deep waters opposite their river.
The motive for the movement Of these
shoals Of anadromous fishes, or rather how
II is melted, has scarcely been explained.
The life Of the fishes has always been a
mystery. II is not search for food, as
they no not eat while in fresh water; the
opening Of hundreds Of stomachs win fail
TO find food present Il is nm easy dispo-
sal Of the question as TO how each colony
recognizes the familiar gates; but we have
some evidence as TO what senses he uses
The fishes probably prompted BY fanc-
tional disturbance, from the tumid ovaries
and sperinaries, are melted to movement.
The courses Of the sea, unmarked as they
are, are, within each colony's limit, their
habitual pathways. An unerring capacity
in the fish for finding its own river may
be no more than that which guides the
hermit-crab to the shell of the matiea.
The latter goes to hide It's sensitive body
with an apparent nervous trepidation at its
unprotected condition The former, with
an uneasiness Of the body from the func-
tional changes il is undergoing, is impell-
ed TO activity. The transmitted habit Of
ascending the stream is, as il were, blend
ed and alloyed with the substance Of the
nerves aud aroused by its condition, car
rles 1t, without conscious purpose, into the
river OF its progenitors and its own. The
impulses Of the fish are only ia slightly
more complicated series than those Of tho
crab That it should be the instinct for a
specific stream, established through inner.
itance OF many generations, is easier to un.
derstand than that Il Is a sort of memory
OF the place Of its immature life, as the
theory Of fish-culture makes il, and as oh
ssrvatlon seems 10 sustain. In the wateri
of the Delaware, where there were no sal
mon originally, the young salmon placed
in Bushkill Greek returned after five years
aud were taken, not only in the Delawar,
River, but the larger number in the neigh
borhood Of Bushkill Creek. 1t is not es
T sen;ial that all the fishes should have thi
impelling influence, whatever il may be
as like gregarious mammals and birds the
flock together, following the leadership Q
whichever for the time takes il. The ide
is suggested that the senses may be th
guiding agent, that a fish goes nosing alon
the coast, or tasting the streams, until
recognizes it own. The conyexity Of Ii
eornea must afford the fishes very limi
ed range Of vision. The supposed dullnel
Of the sense Of smell and Of taste in fishe
might alone dispose Of the suggestion tn;
I these are employed. The following Occur
renee, however, would seem to decide /
the contrary. The Russian River, empt,
ing into the Pacific, north of San Franci
co, had its mouth entirely closed by IN
waves during a storm. The colony Of sa
r mon made their yearly migration from th
deep waters toward the mouth Of the rive
and many of them raced through the sur
and landed high and dry on the sand tn,
walled them out from their native river.
E The migration of the salmon into SON
! Of the Pacific rivers is frenzied advanC
9 over shoals, rapids, and cascades, far I'M
thin streams and brooks, where they arri,
Q battered and weary, to accomplish the
/ exhaustive reproductive labors, aud Dire
back, the sport of the current, dead an
/ dying, toward the Harper's Mag,
| zine [or Mnn.