FOREIGN FISH FOR ENGLISH RIVERS.
.L1_ gave old keeper at one of the new trout-rearing fisheries gave it as his opinion that the great success of the enterprise was due to precedent. "Fish," he said, were a deal easier to make than beasts; 'cause why P 'twas in the Bible. God Almighty wouldn't ha' made they fish a day before the beasts if he hadn't good reasons. 'A knowed well enough they was better to start, and when 'em was made they would keep 'emselves like, if so be there was wetter to swim in."
Without going back to the order of the Creation, it must be admitted that the record of what has been done by man for Nature, an idea which is not the paradox it seems, shows that fish are much more easily transferred and transplanted from one country to another than land animals now that the difficulty of carrying the eggs has been surmounted. There is not the great difficulty of finding a similar environment for them to live in which has to be faced when quadrupeds are brought from distant lands to other lands of different climate. A river is much the same whether it flows from the moun- tains of the great West or the Lancashire fells, unless there be snow-water in the first; and in the water itself there are not the violent changes of temperature, or the dangers from inclement weather, which land animals have to face. Lastly, the fish are so incomparably more prolific, so easily fed on artificial food, and able when young to live in such vast numbers in a small and manageable area, that the possibility of their acclimatisation and increase in an old and over-populated country is very great. Rivers, too, are some of the very few natural features remaining in England, places where the course of Nature, though interfered with on the larger streams, is more often left to go on as it began. So, while it is almost impossible to find a natural environment for wild animals from other lands, the fish find themselves to a great extent en pays de connaissance.
Much has been done to prove this. Many foreign fishes, such as the rainbow trout, brook trout, or char, and the American lake trout, have been and are reared in other countries. But these experiments are rather double-edged. If it is easy to get the fish to take to our waters and breed there, it is also evident that once there it might be very difficult to get them out again if we found that after all they were not such desirable visitors as was expected. So far as experiments and experience show, the balance is at present greatly in favour of making experi- ments with other fishes. The rainbow trout is a signal success, though the brook trout, so called, is a failure. Any new proposals deserve both scrutiny and encouragement. The latest enterprise of the kind is announced on behalf of Mr. Moreton Frewen, who has been very greatly and naturally impressed with the results obtained by the Fish Commission of the United States. He is said to have obtained a large number of the eggs of the shad, one of the important food fishes of the east coast of North America, and to be about to rear these for introduction to Irish rivers. ' We say "of the east coast" because the shad was originally an east coast fish. But the Fish Commission has succeeded in transferring it from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, and establishing it there for many hundreds of miles in a state of natural and perfect acclimatisation. As this fish has already adapted itself to life on the shores of a different ocean, there is every reason to think that it will flourish on the further side of its native home, the Atlantic. Naturally there will be some anxiety to know what the coming strangers are like, and whether they are desirable or detrimental. If the former, every one will welcome them. But if there is a chance that they may turn out a kind of rabbit plague in the waters, or be given to eating up other food fish, like the herrings or sea- trout, then we should prefer their room to their company. Moreover, it is open to argument that as the Irish do not think it worth while to catch the fish which already swarm off their Atlantic coasts, it is superfluous to increase the stock. But this does not affect the general question as to whether the experiment is worth trying on its merits. The shad is a food fish, not a sporting fish. It is really a glorified herring. The Scotch fishermen call it "the king of the herrings." It is the same which Tom the Water. baby met smoking a sprat for a cigar, and inquired the way to Shiny Wall of. The largest English shad grows to 4 lb. weight, but about 2 lb. is a more common size. A smaller kind used regularly to come up the Thames, and was taken as high up the river as Hampton Court. Anciently there were many pleasant legends about the shad. Aristotle said it loved musk and dancing. Allan declared that the fishermen hung bells on their nets to entice the fish, as the bells rang with the rocking of the waves. What is of more importance to know is what it likes to feed upon when the dinner-bell has rung. For on this depends largely its power for use or mischief. It is said to live on "small fish and vegetables." It is very unlikely that it does both. Remem- bering the general ignorance of the food of sea fish, it is difficult to credit the statement. There is still a regular fishery for the large shads at Newnham, near Gloucester, on the Severn, whence they are sent to the local markets and even to London.
Their value for the table is a matter of taste, but the present writer cannot undertake to recommend them. It is claimed for the American variety that its flavour is excellent. Its scientific name is sapidissinta,—" the very tasty one." It grows to a weight of 9 lb., but 4 lb. is the common size. This is larger than the normal weight of any of our common food fishes of the sea, except the lythe, cod, hake, and halibut. It migrates up the rivers to spawn, just as the salmon do, and is caught either in the estuaries, or at sea, or up the rivers. Though some three thousand seven hundred miles of Amerienn rivers have been practically closed to the ascent of the fish, the take of shad is now 90 per cent. greater than it was. The result is due to the work of the artificial hatcheries, for 45 per cent. of the shad caught are taken in places where fifty years ago there were none at all. It will be seen that if Mr. Moreton Frewen's efforts succeed, we shall gain a migratory fish which will make a consider- able difference difference to the stocking of our rivers, and which may alter the present balance between food and population in them. It would be interesting to know whether the shad feed when in fresh water, or whether, like the salmon, their digestive organs are atrophied when ascending to spawn. It is pretty certain that after they have spawned salmon do feed, unless we are to suppose that the apparently hungry kelts take food for the pleasure of holding it in their mouths and enjoying the sense of taste. Consequently the descending shad would be likely to levy a considerable toll on the food supply.
How slight are the differences which make a new fish desirable or detrimental is well illustrated by the respective results of introducing rainbow trout, a beautiful game fish from North America, much cultivated by the American Fish Commissioners, and the brook " trout " so called, but which is really an American char. The former is in every way the model of what a trout should be. He is beautiful to look at, even if his coloration is not exactly what his name suggests ; and he has this advantage over the brown trout, that he likes at least four meals a day where a brown trout will be content with one. So he grows far more quickly, and is far more eager to " rise " to the fly. In a pool where the two kinds live in equal numbers, you will catch four "rainbows" to one brown trout if fishing on abed day. They are bred in millions in this country already, and are perfect fish for stocking lakes and pools, though the limit of their usefulness in rivers is not quite ascertained. The brook trout, or American char, are also lovely to look upon. There are two or three in the Fish House at the "Zoo" now. Their ventral fins are edged with a thick opaque band of pure china white, and the general coloration is like that of some of the silk moths. But they are "cannibals," will not rise to the fly, or very rarely, and are mischievous to other trout.
• For our stiller and slower streams two American fishes are promised. They have just been introduced to some French hatcheries, though not in any number. One is the Cato° bass. It is said to be "the fish for every one." It is also a fish suited to slow rivers, and does not need the highly oxygenated water that a trout does. It has an immense geographical distribution, and though a native of the lakes and rivers of the West, has found its way by canals over .a great part of North America. It quickly grows to a weight of from 1 lb. to 2 lb. The other. fish is the "crappie." It is a poisson de friture, small but good, and tasting like perch, that much-underrated fresh-water fish.. The reports of the French Societe d'Acclimatation announce the arrival of several of these fish from America, fatigues, mais relative- ment en assez bon etat." But these "tired lads:' to borrow a phrase from the immortal Mr. Dooley, came too late to provide a friture of young crappies at the Exhibition.
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