The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1899-05-16
A CURIOUS PROCESS.
BTRlPPlNe SALMON CT THEIR EGGS
AT FISH HATcHERIEs.

After the Operation the big Fish Are
Placed Back In the Water None the
Worse For Their Experience Out of
Their Natural Element.
There are two methods which are
employed by fish culturists to propagate
food and game fish. One is to catch the
young fish, the fry, and transport them
to other waters where it is desired to
introduce them. The other is to strip
the female fish of her eggs and to i'm
pregnate them a%rtificially.
All the attempts that have been made
to propagate black bass by stripping
the female of their eggs have been fail
ures so far, and the only method that
can be applied to them is to catch the
fry and nurse them till they are strong
enough to be liberated. Other fish, nota-
bly, the shad and the salmon, are readi-
ly stripped, and the results are wonder
full, as the percentage of eggs that fail
to hatch is exceedingly small.
Were either fry or eggs left to nature
only an excessively small proportion
would grow into adult fishhood. Apart
from those which would die naturally a
tremendous quantity would fall prey to
the host of enemies-insects. crustacea,
fish, birds and mammals-that is wait
ing for the spawn or the tiny fish.
Any n who has handled fish freshly
caught knows how delicate they appear
to be and how quickly they die after
leaving the water. Yet the experts in
the service of the various state and of
the United States fish commissions ham
die millions of the most sensitive food
and game fish every year, and few of
them die from the process.
The process of handling a female salm
on that is heavy with spawn which it
is desired to take from her is a decided
ly interesting and extremely simple one
and may be explained SO as to be read
lily understood. First the fish are led to
swim into a confined space where they
can be reached with the landing net.
The manipulation of this dip net alone
requires no mean skill. 1t must not
bruise the foundering fish and must lift
the creature in such a way that it does
not scrape the scales from its sides as it
struggles. Wherever a scale is torn
from a fish, particularly in fresh water,
fungus is almost certain to form, and
that is generally fatal.
After the fish is in the net the latter
is lifted carefully, and the operators
hand slides downward, gently but firm
ly, till it grasps the body Immediately
above the tail. Then he draws the fish
from the net and holds it head down
ward. That serves to show at once
whether the fish is "ripe''-that is,
whether the eggs have reached that
stage of development which permits of
stripping. If the fish is perfectly ripe,
the eggs sink toward the head.
If the fish is found satisfactory, the
operator places a pan between his legs
and holds the fish firmly in his arm.
With the right hand he encircles the
salmon just back of the gills and,
squeezing the fish gently, slides the
hand down toward the tail, when the
eggs spout into the pan. They are hard
then and rattle into the receptacle like
peas. Later, after they have been in the
Matching frames for a time, they get
larger and softer, having absorbed much
water.
After the eggs have been drawn from
the female fish she is placed back into
the water, none the worse for her trials.
Then the milt from a ripe male fish is
pressed into the pan in the same way,
and the impregnated eggs are ready to
be Matched.
Under favorable conditions 80 days
is the period of incubation for the grand
~landlocked salmon, one of the finest
game fishes in the world and hardly in
ferior to any as a good fish. The first
sign Of life in the eggs is the formation
of a little clot, generally red or pink,
which increases with remarkable rapid
ity, until in a few days the complete
form of a little fish is plain to the eye.
But it is rather a hideous little mon
ster that wriggles out of the egg finally.
1t resembles a fish only because it
wriggles and moves like one. Otherwise
it looks more like a fevered dream after
too much broiled lobster or Welsh rab-
bit. 1t is a transparent body, with a
globular swelling where its fine, fishlike
lines ought to be, and its eyes are i'm
mense goggles. Then the fish wise men
watch the things most carefully.
This is a critical period of the young
things growth, and a fall or a rise of a
degree in the temperature of the water
may mean death to millions Of salmon.
Generally men remain on guard night
and day in the big hatcheries to watch
their charges at this time. If they pull
through, it is beautiful to see the sue
cessive changes as the tiny swimmers
cast off their hideous appendages and
turn into dainty, slender, silvery crea-
lures that dart through the water like
bubbles of air and form in thick swarms
in the corners of the tanks, where they
hang like bees. New York Press.