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Alaska Salmon
Five nonfiction short fact storie s about Pink, Chum, Sockeye, Silver and King Salmon

Learning about

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Pink Salm on

Pink salmon range from the Bering Sea, out the Aleutian chain, and as far south as the California coast as adults. When they goto spawn, most Pinks spawn in coastal streams, but some pinks travel over 136 miles up the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers. The frys almost immediately begin moving downstream to the sea.

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Newly Emerged Fry: -Loose their sacks -About an inch long -Easy prey for predators -Move down stream -Fry stay in coastal estuaries for about a month before beginning to move offshore

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Smolt: -Physical changes occur, making it easier to change from fresh to salt water. -Gills and kidneys change to accept salt water - The young fish remain in estuaries and tidal creeks for several months feeding on plankton and larval tunicates. -They gradually move into deeper, saltier water, but remain near shore.

Hatched Alevins: -They hatch with huge eyes. -They live under the gravel for 3-4 months. -They eat the orange yolk sack. -This occurs between April and early June.

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Ocean Adult: -They will spend 18 months in the ocean eating and relaxing.

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Salmon Eggs: -Females can produce 8002000 eggs. -They deposit the eggs in nest called Redds. -Up to 85% of eggs can be lost before hatching. -Eyes develope Spawning: -They have reached sexual maturity at 2 years old. -They return to spawn close to their home stream. -Male guards female while she makes a nest. -She lays her eggs and he fertilizes it.

The six stages of a Pink salmon

Diet: -Freshwater: Fish returning to spawn dont eat. Young salmon migrating to the ocean may eat aquatic insects and zooplankton. -Saltwater: Plankton, marine shrimp and krill, other smaller fish, squid, and the occasional aquatic insect.

Pinks can live up to 2 years.

Freshwater vs. Saltwater

Fun Facts!
Female vs. Male

Most Pinks are canned since they are a low quality fish. Some people do small coastal sport fishing. Alaska Natives eat pink salmons.

Learning about

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Chu m Salm

Chum salmon range throughout Alaska, but are scarce north of Kotzebue Sound. While at sea, most of Alaskas chum salmon remain in the eastern Chukchi and Bering seas and the Gulf of Alaska.

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Newly Emerged Fry: -Barely an inch long, on their journey to the sea. -They form schools when they reach the rivers mouth. -They stay in shallow water for several weeks feeding on insect larvae . -The fish move into the open ocean by fall. Hatched Alevins: -They hatch with huge eyes. -They asorb the yollk sack, and as soon as it is gone they start making their way to the sea.

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Smolt: -The small fish replaces its parr marks, a pattern of vertical bars and spots useful for camouflaging the fry in fresh water, with the dark back and light belly coloration used by fish living in open water. -The gills and kidneys change so that they can process salt water. -Smolting isn't that pronounced in chum fish since they dont live long in the fresh water.

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Ocean Adult: -They will spend 2-5 years in the ocean. - They move back to their spawning streams as they near the age of 3-6 years old and are getting ready to spawn.

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Salmon Eggs: -Females can produce 2,500 to 3,300 eggs at a time. -The eggs hatch in December, under the ice. Spawning: -Return to spawn bettween 3-6 years old. -Can go as far as 3,200km from the river mouth to spawn. -Female creates nest with tail, male fertilizes them and females cover them up.

The six stages of a Chum salmon

Diet (both ocean and freshwater): Chum fry feed on small insects in the stream before forming into schools in salt water where their diet usually consists of zooplankton and other small fish

Male vs. Female

Can live 6-7 Years

A growing market has developed in Japan and Europe for fresh and frozen fish.

Chum salmon have always been an important source of food for native people and their dogs in over 200 rural villages in interior Alaska.

Fun Facts!

Saltwater vs. Freshwater

Learning about

Sockeye
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Salm on

Range: The sockeye salmon ranges from Klamath River in Oregon to Point Hope in North Western Alaska. Sockeyes have been caught in the Yukon river as far up as Rampart and flows in to Alaska Bristol bay.

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Newly Emerged Fry: -They swim to a lake where they live for 1 to 2 years. -While in the lakes, they feed on aquatic insects and plankton.

Smolt: -It turns silvery to match its new open water environment, and the gills and kidneys change so that they can process salt water. -Peak migration from lakes to the ocean occurs in June in Bristol Bay. -Once in the sea, sockeye salmon smolts stay close to shore initially, but gradually move into deeper water. -Their food consists of zooplankton

Hatched Alevins: -They must have cold, clear, oxygen-rich water to remain healthy. If there is sediment, it could sufficate the babies.

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Ocean Adult: -Most sockeye salmon spend 2 or 3 years in the ocean. -Amphipods, copepods, and squid become a large part of the diet as the fish grows.

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Salmon Eggs: -Females produce 2,500 to 4,300 eggs but 15% ussually survive. -Hatchign occurs in 6-9 weeks. Spawning: -Most salmon return to spawn at 4 years old. -Almost always in lakes or streams connected to lakes. -The female creates redds and the male ferterlizes eggs. She will create three to five redds over a three to five day period.

The six stages of a Sockeye salmon

Ocean vs. Freshw ater Importance to people:

Most economically important in AK. Higher quality fish and sell for a higher price. Also for sport fishery. Important for AK natives who are commercial and subsistence fishermen.

Diet is Zooplankton in both fresh and salt water

Fun Facts!

Male vs. Female

Lifespa n is 3-7 years

Learning about

Coho (Silver)
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Salm

Range: Coho salmon can be found from Monterey Bay in Cali to Poinit Hope in the Chukchi Sea. They range east in interior rivers across the AK-Yukon Border.

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Newly Emerged Fry: -They usually stay in fresh water for two years in the Yukon River drainage. -Young coho salmon establish a territory in a pool that they defend aggressively from all other fish. -The salmon fry feed almost entirely from the water's surface on insects and spiders. -Sockeye salmon can be a predator. Smolt:

-The fish's gills and kidneys begin to change so that they can process salt water. -Coho salmon smolts remain close to shore for several months feeding primarily on plankton. -They slowly move into deeper, saltier water, and switch to a diet of small fish.

Hatched Alevins: -Coho salmon alevins remain in the redd until the yolk sac is absorbed, then they emerge as free-swimming fry in May or June.

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Ocean Adult: -Most salmon spend 2 or 3 years in the ocean. -Some fish migrate only a short distance into good feeding areas, and stay there; others travel a lot.

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Salmon Eggs: -Females produce 1,500 to 5,700 eggs. -The eggs usually hatch in six to seven weeks. Spawning: -Most coho salmon spawn in streams along the coast. -The fish select spawning sites with high water flow through the gravel which will provide plenty of oxygen for their eggs. -The female lays severl pockets of eggs.

The six stages of a Coho salmon

average lifespan of 2-3 years

DIET: In their freshwater stages, coho feed on plankton and insects, and switch to a diet of small fishes as adults in the ocean.

Ocean (female)

Freshwater (male)

Fun Facts!

Importance to People: -frequently frozen whole and sold as a delicacy in Europe -sport fish in the state -Coho salmon are an important subsistence fish for native people living along Alaska's coast and interior rivers. -Fresh, Canned and Smoked is how they use it.

Learning about...
State Fish!

KING
(chinook)

Salmon
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Range: Spawning populations of Chinook salmon are found all the way from the Ventura River in southern California north to Point Hope, Alaska. The Yukon and Nushagak Rivers in Alaska, have the largest runs of Chinook salmon in the world.

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Newly Emerged Fry: -Salmon fry stay in fresh water for a year in the Yukon River drainage -Live in quiet pools. -During their fresh water residence, Chinook salmon fry feed chiefly on terrestrial insects, small crustaceans, or anything available to them, although they do not appear to eat other fish at this time. Smolt:

-The young fish remain in estuaries and tidal creeks for several months feeding on small fish,insects, crustaceans and mollusks. -They gradually move into deeper, saltier water, but remain near shore.

Hatched Alevins: -They work their way up through the gravel and become free-swimming, feeding fry.

Ocean Adult: -Alaskan Chinook salmon can stay at sea for 1 to 5 years. In the Yukon River, 6 year old fish dominate the returning runs. -During their ocean existence, chinook salmon primarily eat fish along with amphipods, mollusks, crab larvae and squid.

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Salmon Eggs: -Females produce 2,000 to 17,000! but 85% can be lost. -Eggs hatch in 12 weeks. Spawning: -Salmon reach sexual maturity between 3 and 7 years of age. -In the Yukon River 6 year old fish dominate the returning runs. -Female selects spawning site, and male fertilizes.

The six stages of a KING salmon

Most valuable fish to Alaska. People spend over 40 million dollars annually to sport fish the King salmon. Chinook fish are most import to interior natives living along the river.
Lifespan: 3-7 years

Ocean vs. Freshwater

Diet:insects, amphipods, and other crustaceans while young, and mainly fish as adults

Works Cited "All About Freshwater Chum Salmon." Fishing, Hunting, Wildlife Products and Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2012. <http://www.identicards.com/allaboutfreshwaterfish/species.asp?fish=ch um%20salmon>. "Chum Salmon Species Profile, Alaska Department of Fish and Game." Home Page, Alaska Department of Fish and Game. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2012. <http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=chumsalmon.main>. "Gold Seal - Salmon Life Cycle." Gold Seal - Really Wild Salmon. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2012. <http://www.goldseal.ca/wildsalmon/life_cycle.asp>. "Pink Salmon Species Profile, Alaska Department of Fish and Game." Home Page, Alaska Department of Fish and Game. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2012. <http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=pinksalmon.main>. "Pink Salmon Species Profile, Alaska Department of Fish and Game." Home Page, Alaska Department of Fish and Game. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2012.