The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-08-20


ties Of trout, from which mIlltr..
Of eggs are obtained, and il 49,
ates 81 hatcheries. On ths Al,
that We interviewed Commis,Ssss
Parvin he had just returued 49,
. trip to Trappsrs' lake, the larss.,
source Of the native trout suSSs
from which. he said, 1000. ~ - I
had been obtained in threA vesls
Taking various photographs al n.
lAkes and hatcheries from hin dseS
be explained the method By MA
artificial propagation Is carried a
Il seems that the three speesss
of fish have different seasons n,
spawning. The rainbow spsvs.
first, early in the spring; TIE Is.
tives or "black-spotted" trout iN.
low . little later on. and the bfoat
trout spawn In the fall. WhenthI.
season occurs the fish start to nm.
that Is, they make q concentr,teS
effort to leave the lakes and 10 ss
into the streams. each female a.,
c0mpanied by q male. The proceaa
Of natural spawning takes four a.
five days. At this point, however
the state Of Colorado Interfere
Its fish experts follow the nm
seine them out and put them info
pens, admitting one male 70 each
three females. When ripe the Nm
ara squeezed from the female fsh
and the milk from the male Ash
The milk 10 poured over the en-
20 as to fertilize them, after which
they are put in q cool place to
harden Then they are washed md
packed in cheese cloth and vet
moss.
Matching the Eggs.
.In this impregnable form the
eggs arrive at the various state
hatcheries. Here they are placed
in troughs of water, heated and
kept at uniform degrees Of temper.
AZURE. In water heated to the
point Of So degrees, the eggs will
hatch In four weeks. whereas II
the temperature is only 3S degrees
it takes six weeks. The first sign
Of life is merely a block spot. Then
the head Of the fish appears attach
ed to q tiny sack or belly. The nsh
lives on this for eight or nine days,
! 1T the end of which time II. dsvel-
OBS into what is known as FRY"
Having reached this stage. Il Is
still kept In the trough for . car
tain period and fed ground liver,
which Mr.. Parvin says Is the best
fish food ever discovered.
Until Mr.. Parvin became fish
! commissioner. the trout were d.
ways taken out Of the trough q
the FRY" period and distributed It
once in the different streams
practice which lost the state about
IS per cent of its laboricusly
Matched fish every year. The rea-
son was that the little fish could
not stand the sudden change Of ell
mate from their well-heated nur-
sery to the chilly atmosphere Of
the mountain waters, and those
which were not quickly gobbled
by the older, large fish. were
frozen to death. Now, under the
new system, the small FRY ere
removed to nursery ponds or re-
tanning ponds and allowed to stay
there for from s to Is months until
they grow to a size known as
"fingerlings." AS "fingerlings" they
are large enough and strong enough
to take care of themselves and
rarely succumb to the rigors OF
their new environment when plac-
I ed in the mountain streams.
Lose Only 10 Per Cent
Since this plan has been adopted
the fish commission estimates thai
it loses only about 10 per cent Of
the artificially reared fish to any
other cause than that OF sport
Even here, the fish are protected
las much as possible. Fishermen
Fare forbidden to catch fish lest
than seven inches in length. Oh
more than Is pounds Of fish in ont
day. or to have more than ~
pounds of fish in their possession
at any one time.
| With its trout hatcheries pro
ducing such gratifying results, I'M
fish commission has recently Dc
come interested in INTRODUCING tn
eastern perch and black bass int
the waters of Colorado. lnasmucn
as the bass is a distinctly mono
gomous fish, which does not run II
hordes but pairs separately undei
a rock, it is almost Impossible lo
propagate it artificially in hatcn'
cries. The commission has had le
J be satisfied with planting it in var
ious lakes and allow it to DO It's
own reproducing. The lakes cnos.
, en- for the bass are situated in tne
farming districts of Colorado, tne
introduction Of this fish being de'
/ signed for the benefit of the farm
ers, who, situated in the valleys ial
|, removed from the mountain
streams, have heretofore had HUE
or no fishing. The bass appear y
be thriving on the Colorado climal.
!. and increasing SO rapidly that inc
state may soon have an entire ne.
fishing area to be thrown open u
tourists.