Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-07-31
MATCHING our sHADl.|..
Capt. Peetmeier, Of the Fish Hawk Preparins
.# 5S 81 for Next Seasons Fishery. q


Cant. Peetmeier, of the Fish Hawk, PREPARING
&. for Next Seasons Fishery. sI
]. III .tNV are here in the interests OF the
| United States fishing commits sion.
!! said Capt Peetmeier, Of the United
/ States gunboat Fish-HaWk, now lying
I at anchor off Gloucester. Eve are
Matching shad eggs. The process is g
j simple one. Come this way and 81 will I'll
show you. !" s
He led the way to the fore part OF
| the gun deck, which was cleared Of
/ all implements of war for the reception
! of SOME Of the most scientific machln-|
/ erv Of peace In the center OF the
deck stood a large copper tank, con- on
| tanning water constantly changing
from the river, but capable OF being
stopped when at sea. On one side Of
/ this tank stood, twelve zinc cones
/ about three feet in height, with the
/ conical ends downward. A multiple
/ ity of pipes, tubes, valves, and stop
| cocks showed that the cones were II
connection. E.E
"This is were we do the hatching,
said Capt. Peetmeier. These cones
are supplied with water from below
by tubes from the tank. The supply
is regulated by stop-cock at the top
! and the surplus water escapes though
this zine network which surrounds
the top of each of the conical tanks.
I Thus we have running water all the
time. If we are in river we allow
the surplus to go overheard, but when
at sea, it being impossible to get the
fresh water necessary for Matching the
j Il fn, RI,
into the main tank, and so it keeps on
running over and over again. When
the seine up is drawn we take the fe-
male fish with roes and force them to
discharge the ova by squeezing them.
Then we take the males and by the
same process of squeezing force them
to impregnate the ova. The mass is
then counted, or rather measured. and
put into one of these cones and the
water allowed to run.
Chow do you count the eggs; for
see you have 100000 eggs in this cone.
1t is done by measure; so many
eggs to an ounce,-a fluid ounce, l
mean; say 10000. Well, there are
thirty:two fluid ounces to a quart,
therefore there must be within one or
two of 800, 900 eggs We use an ordin-
airy graduated glass druggist quart
measure. It takes from one to three
days for the eggs to hatch. Then we
keep the young fish two or three days
more and then cousign them to their
native element. To put them in the
river requires considerable care. We
gather them into bucket then lower
the bucket into the water and allow
the little fellows to swim out.
Now let me show you some
of the eggs" He took piece of glass
tube and pushed it into one of the conf
cal tanks and, bringing it out, closed
each end with a finger. 1t was tull
of small transparent globular sub.
stances. all moving about IN the tube
and somewhat difficult to see at first.
eff you look carefully at them you
will see young fish inside. Most of
them are nearly ready to come out.
There are also some of the young fish
in this tube. DO you see that tiny
globe hanging to each of them? That
IS the umbilical sac. The young fish
feeds upon that up to a certain age
and finally absorbs it altogether. You
the fish still in the eggs. Do you no.
Clce now JIG eyes W tHc J Jung A>A dI %
sparkling. That is because they are
sick. They have no air in this tube. -
ado they feel the want of it so soon
as that?"
30 yes. There, I will put them
back in their cone; perhaps they may
recover. The eggs, you observe, al
remain at the bottom of the tanks,
unless turn the water on hard. That
drives them to the top but it is not
) good for them, for it matches them too
quickly. Since we have been on the
river, some weeks now, we Matched
, several millions Of eggs, which would
have been lost. OF course vast num-
Der are Matched by the process of ma
ture in the river. But these that we
have produced arti6cially will 60 a
) long way toward stocking the fishery.
and would have been cooked and eaten
or otherwise destroyed if we had not
; stepped in and saved them. We have
other tanks for Matching the eggs
smaller glass ones-but they are only
: used when we are very busy. We
, keep the water running through them
) by an arrangement Of siphons,. all
f leading to large aquarium. don't
know how long we will remain here,
but suppose as long as we can OBJ
!: tain ova to work upon. ''-Phsladelphio