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Ouananiche — Part 2
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"Thou art not to be measured by quantity but by quality, and thy five pounds of pure vigour will outweigh a score of pounds of flesh less vitalized by spirit. Thou feedest on the flies of the air, and thy food is transformed into an aerial passion for flight, as thou springest across the pool, vaulting toward the sky. Thine eyes have grown large and keen by peering through the foam, and the feathered hook that can deceive thee must be deftly tied and delicately cast. Thy tail and fins, by ceaseless conflict with the rapids, have broadened and strengthened, so that they can flash thy slender body like a living arrow up the fall. As Launce-lot among the knights, so art thou among the fish, the plain-armoured hero, the sun-burnt champion of all the water-folk."
According to Eugene McCarthy, who has written much and entertainingly concerning the ouananiche, this fish when hooked will jump out of the water 5 or 6 times on an average, and sometimes will jump 10 or 12 times.
"And such jumps! Two or 3 feet out of the water, often toward the fisherman, then a rush deep down--a pause--a succession of jerks that would seem to tear the hook loose--a wild rush of varying distance, and a run back, almost to the angler's feet. A fish weighing 3 1/2 or 4 pounds will make a fight lasting 10 or 15 minutes, often longer, and that means hard work for every moment for the fisherman."
The average size of the ouananiche is 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds, though examples weighing 8 pounds are often taken.
The ouananiche does not differ greatly from the Atlantic salmon, and is apparently even more closely related to the Sebago salmon. Some ichthyologists and many anglers have maintained that all 3 are identical, and that the Sebago salmon and the ouananiche are not worthy even of a subspecific rank. But specific or subspecific rank is not determined by the amount or greatness of differences, but rather by their constancy. However small the differences may be, if they are real and constant, and do not intergrade, they indicate specific distinctness; however great they may be, if not constant, or if they show intergradation, they can be of no more than subspecific value. Subspecific characters are usually associated with more or less definite geographic or environmental isolation, and the characters of the subspecies and those of the parent species (Used for convenience for the earlier described form, which may, in reality, be the derived form.) will intergrade where the two habitats join or overlap.
It seems certain that both the Sebago salmon and the ouananiche are geographically isolated forms, each possessing characters by which it is readily distinguished from the other, and from the Atlantic salmon as well. Whether the differential characters intergrade or not has not been fully determined. If they do not, then each should rank as a full species, and bear a binomial instead of a trinomial name. Comparing the ouananiche with the grilse of the Atlantic salmon, Mr. Walter M. Bracket, as quoted by Mr. Chambers, says the eye of the former "is much larger, the profile rounder, the dark spots larger and much more numerous. In fact, the grilse is much more of an aristocrat than his freshwater cousin, being finer in his proportions and much purer in colour--due, no doubt, to his different habitat and food." But Mr.Bracket's use of the term ouananiche includes the Sebago salmon also.
Mr. Chambers says of the ouananiche, "Its fins are larger and stronger [than those of Salmo salar]. . . .Its tail is unusually broad. . . The eye of the ouananiche is much larger than that of the ordinary salmon, the St. Andrew's cross-marks upon the sides are closer together, and there are larger and more distinct black spots upon the gill-covers, in shape both round and irregular."
Mr. J. G. A. Creighton says "the teeth in the ouananiche are larger than in Salmo salar, . . . the fins are proportionately much larger, especially the tail. . . . The eye is remarkably large, about three-quarters of an inch in diameter in the adult, with a pupil 1/4 inch in diameter. These measurements are much greater than in the sea-salmon of 15 to 20 pounds' weight."
The evidence seems to indicate that the ouananiche is specifically distinct from the Atlantic salmon and from the Sebago salmon, and for the present we prefer to so regard it.
The Trout of Western America
In the western part of America are found more than a score of trout of the genus Salmo all closely related and difficult to distinguish. There are representatives in the headwaters of the Rio Grande, Arkansas, Platte, Missouri, and Colorado; also in the Great Salt Lake basin, throughout the Columbia basin, and in all suitable waters from southern California and Chihuahua to Alaska and Kamchatka.