Wildlife of the Week: Pacific Salmon
To show the world that salmon are more than just destined for sashimi platters, we explain the biology and behaviours of one genus, our Wildlife of the Week, the Pacific salmon:
Genus: Oncorhynchus
Species: King (Chinook), Sockeye (Red), Coho (Silver), Pink (Humpback), Chum (Dog)
IUCN Status: Least Concern or Unassessed
Diet: The young depend on a diet of insects and plankton, while the adults eat shrimps, fishes, eels and squids. The sockeye species depends solely on plankton
Size: Two kilograms to 50 kilograms, depending on species
Ecosystem: As anadromous fishes, salmon are born in fresh water-like rivers or streams and spend one to seven years in salt water as adults. They will return to fresh water to spawn before dying of exhaustion within a few weeks. Those that do not die will spawn two or three more times
Distribution: Widely distributed in North Pacific waters of the United States and Canada
Behaviour: The migration of millions of Pacific salmon is a yearly affair in summer. They swim from the North Pacific region to the fresh waters of their birthplace to spawn, memorising a complex map of smells to find their way home
5 Fast Facts:
- Salmon are the “keystone” species that influences the survival and reproduction of 137 other species, like the coastal brown bears, mountain lions, the golden eagle and the snowy owl
- Salmon carry out spring-cleaning before spawning, by using their tails to sweep away fine sand and sediments that would suffocate the developing eggs
- Salmon are cold-water fish and will die when exposed to waters above 20ºC. Recently, global warming has heated up the waters making it unbearably hot for these salmon, ultimately causing their demise
- Adult salmon are known to travel over approximately 3,200 kilometres to reach their spawning grounds, including jumping up rapids
- Salmon contains a lot of protein, vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, vital to human dietary health