Fig. 194.—Eulachon, or Ulchen. Thaleichthys pretiosus Girard. Columbia River. Family Argentinidæ.
This little smelt, about a foot long, ascends the Columbia River, Frazer River, and streams of southern Alaska in the spring in great numbers for the purpose of spawning. Its flesh is white, very delicate, charged with a white and very agreeable oil, readily digested, and with a sort of fragrance peculiar to the species.
Fig. 195.—Ayu, or Japanese Samlet, Plecoglossus altivelis Schlegel. Tanagawa, Tokyo, Japan.
Next to this he is inclined to place the ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis), a sort of dwarf salmon which runs in similar fashion in the rivers of Japan and Formosa. The ayu is about as large as the eulachon and has similar flesh, but with little oil and no fragrance.
Fig. 196.—Whitefish, Coregonus clupeiformis Mitchill. Ecorse, Mich.
Very near the first among sea-fishes must come the pampano (Trachinotus carolinus) of the Gulf of Mexico, with firm, white, finely flavored flesh.
The red surmullet of Europe (Mullus barbatus) has been long famed for its delicate flesh, and may perhaps be placed next. Two related species in Polynesia, the munu and the kumu (Pseudupeneus bifasciatus and Pseudupeneus porphyreus), are scarcely inferior to it.