Homing Tendency and Age at Maturity of Pink Salmon ( Oncorhynchus gorbuscha ) in British Columbia

Pink salmon fry were marked by the removal of certain fins to ensure later identification as adults. This procedure does not affect the growth or the feeding reactions of the fish. Three experiments were conducted on natural runs at McClinton creek, Masset inlet, B.C. On the basis of the most signif...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
Main Author: Pritchard, A. L.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1939
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f38-022
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f38-022
Description
Summary:Pink salmon fry were marked by the removal of certain fins to ensure later identification as adults. This procedure does not affect the growth or the feeding reactions of the fish. Three experiments were conducted on natural runs at McClinton creek, Masset inlet, B.C. On the basis of the most significant one of these it is concluded that the majority of the fish return to spawn in the stream in which they were hatched. Isolated individuals, in numbers not economically significant, may wander to a distance of 400 miles (645 kilometres). In the case of fry resulting from transplantation experiments from Tlell river, east coast of Graham island, to McClinton creek, there appears no consistent behaviour in regard to "homing". For fry, hatchery-raised and pond-reared, from Vedder river, Swelter creek eggs, no return to the parent stream was reported. All pink salmon mature in the autumn of their second year. Certain incidental checks in growth have been discovered on scales which should not be interpreted as representing a winter.