The use of merthiolate on green eggs of the Chinook salmon

MERTHIOLATE has been used as a disinfecting agent for green and eyed eggs of various species (Gee and Sarles 1942, Snieszko and Friddle 1948). The present report is a description of the effects of the chemical on green eggs of the chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha).

The need for this study was indicated when a program of transporting green chinook eggs from various sources to the Coleman National Fish Hatchery at Anderson, California, was required as part of a disease study. There was no available information to indicate whether the salmon eggs would withstand the disinfecting routine shown by Snieszko and Friddle (1948) to be tolerated by trout eggs, or whether the fry and fingerlings from salmon eggs so treated would suffer high mortalities or be abnormal in appearance or activity.