During the most of the present year, the writers have been engaged in the study of the fishes of the Pacific coast of the United States, in the interest of the U.S. Fish Commission and the U.S. Census Bureau. The following pages contain the principal facts ascertained concerning the salmon of the Pacific coast. It is condensed from our report to the U.S. Census Bureau, by permission of Professor Goode, assistant in charge of fishery investigations.
There are five species of salmon (Oncorhynchus) in the waters of the North Pacific. We have at present no evidence of the existence of any more on either the American or the Asiatic side.
These species may be called the quinnat or king salmon, the blue-back salmon or red-fish, the silver salmon, the dog salmon, and the hump-back salmon, or Oncorhynchus chouicha, nerka, kisutch, keta, and gorbuscha. All these species are now known to occur in the waters of Kamtschatka as well as in those of Alaska and Oregon.
As vernacular names of definite application, the following are on record:
a. Quinnat--Chouicha, king salmon, e'quinna, saw-kwey, Chinnook salmon, Columbia River salmon, Sacramento salmon, tyee salmon, Monterey salmon, deep-water salmon, spring salmon, ek-ul-ba ("ekewan") (fall run).
b. Blue-bock--krasnaya ryba, Alaska red-fish, Idaho red fish, sukkegh, Frazer's River salmon, rascal, oo-chooy-ha.
c. Silver salmon--kisutch, winter salmon, hoopid, skowitz, coho, bielaya ryba, o-o-wun.
d. Dog salmon--kayko, lekai, ktlawhy, qualoch, fall salmon, o-le-a-rah. The males of all the species in the fall are usually known as dog salmon, or fall salmon.
e. Hump-back--gorbuscha, haddo, hone, holia, lost salmon, Puget Sound salmon, dog salmon (of Alaska).
Of these species, the blue-back predominates in Frazer's River, the silver salmon in Puget Sound, the quinnat in the Columbia and the Sacramento, and the silver salmon in most of the small streams along the coast. All the species have been seen by us in the Columbia and in Frazer's River; all but the blue-back in the Sacramento, and all but the blue-back in waters tributary to Puget Sound. Only the quinnat has been noticed south of San Francisco, and its range has been traced as far as Ventura River, which is the southernmost stream in California which is not muddy and alkaline at its mouth.