| Order: |
Salmoniformes |
| Family: |
Salmonidae |
| Genus and species: |
Salmo trutta |
William Yarrell (1836) in "A History of British Fishes":
THE SALMON-TROUT.
| Salmo |
trutta, |
Linnĉus. |
| " |
" |
Willughby, p. 198. |
| " |
" |
Sea-Trout, |
Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 397 |
| " |
" |
" |
Flem. Brit. An. p. 180, sp. 45. |
THE SALMON-TROUT is, of the migrating species in this country, the next in value to the Salmon. It is most abundant in the rivers of Scotland, and its flesh is excellent. It is distinguished by the gill-cover being intermediate in its form between that of the Salmon and Bull-Trout.
The representation on the right-hand of the vignette at page 5 is that of the Salmon-Trout. The posterior free margin, it will be observed, is less rounded than that of the Salmon on the left hand, but more so than that of the Bull-Trout, which is represented by the middle figure. The line of union of the operculum with the suboperculum, and the inferior margin of the suboperculum, are oblique, forming a considerable angle with the axis of the body of the fish. The posterior edge of the preoperculum rounded, - not sinuous, as in the Bull-Trout. The teeth are more slender as well as more numerous than in the Salmon or Bull-Trout; those on the vomer extending along a great part of its length, and indenting the tongue deeply between the two rows of teeth that are there placed, one row along each side. The tail is less forked at the same age than that of the Salmon, but becomes, like it, square at the end after the third year. The size and surface of the tail also is much smaller than that of the Salmon, from the comparative shortness of the caudal rays. The figure at the head of this article represents the Salmon-Trout in its second year ; the second represents this species in its first year.
This fish is the White Trout of Devonshire, Wales, and Ireland ; it is found in the Severn, in the rivers of Cornwall, and is plentiful in the Esk and the Eden, which communicate with the Solway, where it is called Sea-Trout.
The habits of this species are also very like those of the Salmon, and the females are said to run up the rivers before the males. Sir William Jardine says, "In approaching the entrance of rivers, or in seeking out, as it were, some one they preferred, shoals of this fish may be seen coasting the bays and headlands, leaping and sporting in great numbers, from about one pound to three or four pounds in weight ; and in some of the smaller bays the shoal could be traced several times circling it, and apparently feeding. In these bays they are occasionally taken with a common hang-net stretched across ; and when angled for in the estuaries, with the ordinary flies which are used in the rivers of the South for Grilse, rose and took so eagerly, that thirty-four were the produce of one rod, engaged for about an hour and a half. They enter every river and rivulet in immense numbers, and when fishing for the Salmon are annoying from their quantity. The food of those taken with the rod in the estuaries appeared very indiscriminate ; occasionally the remains of some small fish, which were too much digested to be distinguished ; sometimes flies, beetles, or other insects, which the wind or tide had carried out ; but the most general food seemed to be the Talitris locusta, or common sand-hopper, with which some of their stomachs were completely crammed. It is scarcely possible to arrive with any certainty at the numbers of this fish. Two hundred are frequently taken at a single draught of a sweep-net, and three hundred have occasionally been counted." They are much more numerous in the Don, the Spey, and the Tay, than in the Tweed.
Great quantities of this Salmon-Trout are sent to the London market ; those from Perth, Dundee, Montrose, and Aberdeen appear, from their comparative depth of body, to be better fed, are higher in colour, and considered to be finer in flavour than from some other localities. The Fordwich Trout of Isaac Walton is the Salmon-Trout; and its character for affording "rare good meat," besides the circumstance of its being really an excellent fish, second only to the Salmon, was greatly enhanced, no doubt, by the opportunity of eating it very fresh. Fordwich is about two miles east-north-east of Canterbury. The stream called the Stour was formerly very considerable ; it communicates with the sea opposite the back of the Isle of Sheppy, and from Fordwich one branch going eastward, again enters the sea at Sandwich. The ancient right to the fishery at Fordwich was enjoyed jointly by two religious establishments : it is now vested in six or seven individuals, who receive a consideration for their several interests. It was formerly the custom to visit the nets at Fordwich every morning to purchase the fish caught during the night. I have seen specimens of the Salmon-Trout from the Sandwich river exposed for sale in the fishmongers' shops at Ramsgate, during the season for visiting that watering-place ; and the Salmon-Trout is also occasionally taken in the Medway by fishermen who work long nets for Smelts during the autumn and winter. I have obtained a young fish of the year in the Thames from the men who fish for Shads above Putney-bridge in the months of June and July.
The largest adult fish of this species I have ever seen was in the possession of Mr. Groves, the fishmonger of Bond-street : this specimen, which occurred in June 1831, was a female in very fine condition, and weighed seventeen pounds.
Dr. Mac Culloch states, that the Salmon-Trout, or Sea-Trout, as it is called in Scotland, is now a permanent resident in a fresh-water lake in the island of Lismore, one of the Hebrides, and without the power of leaving it or reaching the sea. There it has been known for a long course of years, perfectly reconciled to its prison, and propagating without any apparent difficulty."*
The length of the head is, when compared with the length of the body alone, as one to four ; the depth of the body compared to the whole length of the fish is also as one to four : the teeth small and numerous, occupying five rows on the upper surface of the mouth ; those of the central row on the vomer extending some distance along it, the points turning outwards alternately to each side ; one row upon each side of the under jaw, and three or four teeth on each side of the tongue, strong, sharp, and curving backwards, well calculated to assist in holding a living prey, or to convey food towards the pharynx : the middle of the eye situated half-way between the point of the nose and the posterior edge of the preoperculum : the form of the parts of the gill-cover have been already described and figured. The first ray of the dorsal fin is short ; the second ray long, equal to the length of the base of the fin ; the articulation at the base of the last dorsal fin-ray exactly half-way between the point of the nose and the end of the tail ; the fleshy fin on the back being also half-way between the base of the last ray of the dorsal fin and the end of the tail. The body of the fish rather deep for its length ; the lateral line very nearly straight, and passing along the middle of the body ; the scales adhering closely ; in form rather a longer oval than those of the Salmon, and having about twenty-three in the usual line up to the dorsal fin, and twenty-two below it. The fin-rays in number are- --
D. 12 : P. 13 : V. 9 : A. 10 : C. 19. Vertebrĉ 58.
The upper part of the head and back dark bluish black, becoming lighter on the sides, which are marked with nu-merous spots, somewhat resembling in form the letter X : these spots are mostly above the lateral line. The lower part of the sides and belly silvery white ; cheeks and gill-covers silvery white ; the dorsal fin, fleshy fin, and tail, nearly as dark as the colour of the back ; the pectoral fill rather small and bluish white ; the ventral fins white, arising in a vertical line under the middle of the dorsal fin ; the anal fin white, the base of the fin one-third shorter than the longest of its fin-rays. When the Salmon-Trout is placed by the side of a Salmon, it is, in comparison, darker in colour in the body, but lighter in the colour of the fins.
The Phinock or Hirling of the North, the Salmo albus of Dr. Fleming, is perhaps distinct from the Salmon-Trout just described ; but the specimens of it which I have received so exactly resemble the young of the Salmon-Trout in its first year, that I am unable to point out any sufficiently distinguishing specific character ; it is therefore omitted as a species, in the hope that it will be hereafter described and figured by some naturalist who has better opportunities, and more materials for proving its specific distinction.
* Journal of the Royal Institution, No. xxxiv. p. 211.
Alwyne Wheeler (1969) in "The Fishes of the British Isles and North West Europe":
Salmo trutta Linnaeus, 1758
