Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-04-24
How Fish Find Their Own Rivers.

The long held and only recently rejected
theory, that the shoals OF fishes moved In vast
INTO each river as they passed its mouth, Is to
be attributed to John Gtlptn and some other au-
thors, who have written flow1ngly on the sub
)ect. The recent careful Investigations Of natu-
ralists Indicate that the anadromous fishes,
those entering the rivers and bodies Of fresh
water 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 1t is ia
cited. has scarcely been explained. The life of
the fishes has always been mystery. 1t is not
search for food, as they do not eat While in
achs viii fail to lind food present Il IS an
easy disposal Of the question as to how each
colony recognizes Its native river to say that
lit ,o Is instructive S SO It Is also when the
but we have some evidence as to what senses
he uses The fishes, probably, prompted by
functional disturbance, from the tumd ovaries
and spermaries are melted to movement The
courses OF the sea, unmarked as they are, are
within each colony's limit, their habltual path
ways. An unerrlng capacity in the fish for
which guides the bermitcrab to the shell of
the n1tica. The latter goes TO hide it's sensi-
tive body, with an apparent nervous treplda-
ton at its unprotected condition. The for
mer, with an uneaSlneSS Of bO1y from the func-
tional changes 1t is undergoing, is fmpelled to
activity. The transmitted habit OF ascending
the stream Is, as it were, blended and alleged
with the substance OF the nerves. and aroused
by its condition, carries 1t, without conSciou
purpose, into the river OF its progenitorS and
its own. The impulses OF the fish are only In
slightly more complicated series than those
of the crab. That it should be the instinct for
specific stream, established through 1nheri-
aLce OF many generations, Is easier TO under
stand than that 1t is q sort Of memory OF the
place of its immature 1fe as the theory OF fish
culture makes it, and as observation seems to
sustain. In the waters of the Della ware,
where there were no salmon, originally, the
young salmon placed in BuShkill Creek re-
turned after five years, and were taken, not
only in the Delaware river, but the larger
number In the neighbOrhOOd Of BuShkill Greek.
1t is not essential that all the fishes should have
this impelling influence, whatever it may be, as
like gregariOuS mammals and birds they flock
together following the leadership of whichever
for the time takes it. The idea is suggested
that the senses may be the guiding agent, that
the streams, until 1t recognizes its own. The
COnveXity OF the cOrnea must afford the fishes
a very limited range OF vision. The supposed
dizziness or the sense of smell and of taste in
fishes might alone dispose OF the suggestion
that these are employed. The following occur
renee however, would seem to decide to the
contrary. The Russian river, empty1ng into
the Pacific, north OF San Francisco, had It's
mouth entirely closed by the waves during
storm. The colony OF salmon made their yearly
migration from the deep waters toward the
mouth Of the river, and many Of them raced
through the SURF and landed high and dry on
the sand that walled them out from their native
river.
The migration of the salmon into some of the
Pacific rivers Is frenZied advance over shoals,
rapids, and cascades, far into thin streams and
brooks, where they arrive battered and weary
to accomplish their exhaustive reproductive
labOrS, and drop back, the sport OF the current
d. ad and dying, toward the Sea.-Jdnes W.
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