THE FUR SALMON
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/A Treatise by Pee?, T. Masurv/
PHOTOGRAPH OF FUR SALMON HUNTING
GLACIER WORMS
J* ((NOTE: This remark
(able picture of the
(fur salmon in action
(was sent the author
(by the eminent scien
tist, Prof. M.T.Meskit,
(Q.E.D., S.Q.l... P.D.Q.)
The fur salmon are long-finned, short-bodied salmon with ' .V‘
tufted ears and short bobbed tail* They are found throughout the
Alaskan waters from the Affiic to the Dixon entrance and are of two
varieties, male and female.
The fur salmon is notable for its pectoral or side fins,which
have claws or rather claw-like protuberances for climbing over the
snow and up sandy beaches at the foot of glaciers, after its favorite
food, the glacier worm.
The male species is the most striking and may easily be dis
tinguished by the longer ear tufts and broader-spreading pectoral
fins, and as befits a fish of the great Alaskan waters, it has a
long coat of thick fur which gives it a remarkably fluffy appearance.
Its fins in winter are heavily furred above and below and are so broad
that they serve admirably for support in deep snow through which it
would otherwise have to wade laboriously.
This fish, contrary to general belief, does not attack humans,
feeds principally on glacier worms, snow bugs and ice beetles. On
one occasion, Prof. M.T*iJleskit states he watched a fur salmon stalk
ing a large blue ice beetle. It sprang upon the ice beetle from a
near-by ledge and by repeatedly biting it about the neck and should
ers out out the ice beetle’s 3yes, thus reducing it to helplessness.
The female species has from nine to ninety young, which are
marked by dusky spots and small circles, the young usually remaining
with the mother until weaned. The male does not bear any young*
Fur salmon are extraordinarily intelligent and make interest
ing pets. They are exceedingly vain and are easily captured by plac
ing a mirror near their hunting grounds. Being attracted by their ap
pearance in the mirror they immediately become so interested in comb
ing their fur that they are uncoiSiious of the approach of the hunters
and make little attempt to escape when picked up.
They are mainly hunted for their fur, the first skinning hav
ing a finer pelagef the second skinning being a trifle courser and so
on according tothe skinning.
The fur salmon is fast disappearing due to being hunted ex
tensively and to the fact that its food is getting scarce, an epozBotic
disease having killed most of the glacier worms, snow bugs and ice
beetles. The fur almon, when it can not ootain its regular diet, resorts
to eating its own body, beginning at its tail. It does not stop until its
whole physical structure has been consumed including the bones. If snow
bugs and ice beetles are still unavailable it then dies of starvation.
!