ARE PARR SALMON' FRY?

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2358, 22 October 1870, Page 2

ARE PARR SALMON' FRY?

EVIDENCE FOR THE DEFENCE. William Clement, Alva, deponed : T have been a fisher for upwards of thirty yea- a. I have studied the habits of salmon for the last twent5 r years I know the fish called “parr.” It is quite a different fish from smolt, and not produced from the same parentage. I know this by an experiment which I made. I have kept them in a well for eight years. T hey did not grow larger. They kept about the same size and fatness. I tried the same experiment with smelts. They did not do so well. They grew' long long and thin, and died. Their habits were different from parr. My opinion was that smolts required to migrate. It is my opinion that parr arc not young wlum

By Mr Blair: It is my opinion that parr arc the young of yellow and sea-trout. I have seen a yellow trout and sea-trout spawning together, and from that circumstance I came to the conclusion that “parr were the young of these trout.

By the Sheriff; My opinion is that there are no parr of salmon in any river.

Peter M‘Neil deponed : I reside in Perth. I have been acquainted with fishing for about thirty years. lam known as the “ Otter ” on account of my fondness of fishing. I know all the habits of fish. I know the fish / call a pair. A parr never changes into a smolt. It remains a “parr,” but of different sizes. I never considered it the young of sa’mon.

By Mr Blair ; I have not watched the progress of the growth of a parr. By the Sheriff: My opinion is that they become smolts when they come out of the egg. I have seen the yellow trout spawn with the parr.

By Mr MacLeish : I call salmon fry salmon smolt. I never call them parr. James Voy, Pomarium, Perth, deponed : I know about salmon and their habits. I have been engaged both in line and netfishing for five years. I have had experience of thirty-two years in net-fishing. I know a “parr” quite well. Parr and smolt are not the same kind of fish. Salmon fry 1 call the smolt. Parr arc not the salmon fry. I have opened parr and found roe in the female, and milt in the male. By Mr Blair : I have seen milt developed to its full state. I have seen a good many parr with roc. There might he more with the milt than the roe. I have not seen ai y of these “ parr ” reared from the egg. 1 have seen them different sizes, but all parr. You can know a smolt by the color, the head, and the llesh. There is a certa n season in the year when smolt have got a silvery coat. It is only at this stage that I know them to be smolts.

By the Sheriff; It is my opinion that parr are the produce of bull-trout. lam quite certain that there are male and female “parr.”

By Mr MacLeish : I never knew of a smo’t having roe and milt. Roe or milt appears in a smolfc for the first time when it comes from the sea. I would not be nositive of finding parr in the spring with milt. I have found milt and roe in them in Novemjrer and December.

Robert Haggart deponed : I live in Perth. I have fished for forty-five years. I know the parr well. I know smelt also The parr and smolt are not the same. Parr are not salmon fr Salmon fry are the smolts going down to.the sea. L have got both milt and roe in the parr. I have got them in February with milt and roe in them. 1 have never examined smolts. I have never heard of milt and roe being in smolts. By Mr Blair ; The smolts are different sizes. On an average they would be fully less than my finger in length. They can he known by the head before the sca'es come on. The scales come off smolts very easily. They are not so dark as the ordinary parr. The marks are almost the same. I have seen these fish in the ponds. I would not call the fish .in the ponds “parr.” I would call them smolts. I would call all the young salmon smo'ts from the time they oome out of the egg until they go down the river. I have never heard of milt or roo being in a smalt, but I have seen them in a parr.

By the Sheriff; A smolt would become a grilse, and a grilse a salmon. There arc male and female salmon. I could not say much about how a smolt became a grilse bebecause that ri done down the water. (Laughter.) Parr don’t grow out of the pair stage. Alexander Mac lonald, dyer, Perth: I have been fishing less or more nil my life. I know the parr. They arc different from smo’.ts. The term “salmoufry” applies to smolts. 1 never heard it applied to parr. I have been once at the Stormontfield Ponds. I had some conversat on with Mr Marshall. FTe s ud that the bank had been broke down, and that t' e parr had got in. I understand that he tried to keep the par out of the pond.

John Grow, weaver, Leonard street, Perth: I have been a fisher for upwards of twenty years. I know both pair and smolt. They are different species. I have felt a smolt and parr. A parr at the present season has milt and roe. Salmon fry are smolts. I have caught parr larger than smolt°. I never hoard the term “fry” used with regard to parr. By Mr Blair: I catch the smolt in April. They vary in size. They must be in the river before that time. Yqu will find parr in the river at all seasons, while you will find the smolt only in their season. I can’t believe the smolts to have breu pavx\ I once got a parr quite black, and I considered him a foul fish and a matured fish.

Thomas Bell, weaver, Perth, deponed : I have been a fisher for about forty years. L know alioat salmon. 1 know smolts. Salmon fry are smolts Parr arc not smolts. The term sabuou fry has always been applied to smolts. At a certain season there arc no smolts ; bub you will get parr all tbe year round in the river. I have never seen parr go in shoals. Parr approach in their habits to those of fhe yellow trout. 1 don’t know whether the smolts went down the river in shoals.

By Mr Blair: I have never fished in burns where salmon could not get. I was not aware (hat pair are only got in rivers where salmon are found. The smolt are only in the river a short time in the spring. I have always found parr the who'e season-over. I have never considered that smolts were parr the year before the}' went down the river. 1 have seen parr and smolt in the river at the same time

Peter Marshall, on being recalled, deponed that they did not wish parr or any other fish to come from tire river into tho pond. We only breed pare salmon; and if parr could get from the river into the ponds, so could [like, minnow, and other fish, which would spoil our experiments. This ended the proof. Mr Blair having addressed the Court on behalf of the prosecution, Mr MaeLeish followed for tho defence.

The Sheriff aid that the question came to be whether this matter was or was not to be taken scientifically. There could be no difficulty, he thought, about the smolts, because there was only one kind ; but in tho case of parr, there were two kinds; and, therefore, the one might be taken, and the other not. He thought that, to fish with impunity, a man would require to carry with him Mr Brown, or some one el e, who could discern the one from the other. (Laughter.) The Sheriff tpok the case to avizandum,