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Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family
Salmonidae Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whitefis ...
, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''
Salmo ''Salmo'' is a genus of ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae. The single ''Salmo'' species naturally found in the Atlantic North America is the Atlantic salmon, whereas the salmon and trout of the Pacific basin belong to another genus, '' ...
'') and
North Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
(genus '' Oncorhynchus'') basin. Other closely related fish in the same family include trout, char, grayling, whitefish,
lenok Lenoks, otherwise known as Asiatic trout or Manchurian trout,James Card: Fly fishing in South Korea.' Retrieved 22 June 2015. are salmonid fish of the genus ''Brachymystax'', native to rivers and lakes in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, wider Siberia (incl ...
and
taimen Siberian taimen (''Hucho taimen''), also known as the common taimen (russian: Обыкнове́нный тайме́нь, Obyknovénnyĭ taĭménʹ), Siberian giant trout or Siberian salmon, is a species of salmon-like ray-finned fish from the ...
. Salmon are typically anadromous: they hatch in the gravel
bed A bed is an item of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax. Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many beds ...
s of shallow fresh water streams, migrate to the
ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...
as adults and live like sea fish, then return to fresh water to reproduce. However, populations of several species are restricted to fresh water throughout their lives.
Folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
has it that the fish return to the exact spot where they hatched to spawn, and tracking studies have shown this to be mostly true. A portion of a returning
salmon run ''Salmon Run'' is a 1982 video game for the Atari 8-bit family created by Bill Williams and distributed via the Atari Program Exchange. ''Salmon Run'' was the first game in Williams's career, followed by a string of successes noted for their o ...
may stray and spawn in different freshwater systems; the percent of straying depends on the species of salmon. Homing behavior has been shown to depend on olfactory memory. Salmon are important
food fish Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ing ...
and are intensively
farmed Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...
in many parts of the world, with
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
being the world's largest producer of farmed salmon, followed by
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
. They are also highly prized
game fish Game fish, sport fish or quarry refer to popular fish pursued by recreational anglers, and can be freshwater or saltwater fish. Game fish can be eaten after being caught, or released after capture. Some game fish are also targeted commercial ...
for
recreational fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing ...
, by both freshwater and saltwater
angler Angler may refer to: * A fisherman who uses the fishing technique of angling * ''Angler'' (video game) * The angler, ''Lophius piscatorius'', a monkfish * More generally, any anglerfish in the order Lophiiformes * '' Angler: The Cheney Vice Pres ...
s. Many species of salmon have since been introduced and naturalized into non-native environments such as the
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
of
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
,
Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...
in
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
and
South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
of
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.


Species

The term "salmon" comes from the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''salmo'', which in turn might have originated from ''salire'', meaning "to leap". The seven commercially important species of salmon occur in two genera. The genus ''
Salmo ''Salmo'' is a genus of ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae. The single ''Salmo'' species naturally found in the Atlantic North America is the Atlantic salmon, whereas the salmon and trout of the Pacific basin belong to another genus, '' ...
'' contains the
Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are ...
, found in both sides of the North Atlantic, as well as more than 40 other species commonly named as trout. The genus '' Oncorhynchus'' contains 12 recognised species which occur naturally only in the North Pacific, six of which are known as
Pacific salmon ''Oncorhynchus'' is a genus of fish in the family Salmonidae; it contains the Pacific salmon and Pacific trout. The name of the genus is derived from the Greek ὄγκος (ónkos, “lump, bend”) + ῥύγχος (rhúnkhos, “snout”), i ...
while the remainder are considered trout. Outside their native habitats,
Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus '' Oncorhynchus''. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other ...
have been successfully introduced in
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and
Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...
, while
coho The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientific species name is ...
, freshwater
sockeye The sockeye salmon (''Oncorhynchus nerka''), also called red salmon, kokanee salmon, blueback salmon, or simply sockeye, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Northern Pacific Ocean and rivers discharging into it. This species is a P ...
and Atlantic salmon have been established in Patagonia, as well.     Both the ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' genera also contain a number of species referred to as trout. Within ''Salmo'', additional minor taxa have been called salmon in English, i.e. the
Adriatic salmon ''Salmo obtusirostris'', also known as the Adriatic trout, Adriatic salmon, and softmouth trout, is a species of salmonid fish endemic to the rivers of Western Balkans in southeastern Europe. The scientific name has changed several times thr ...
(''Salmo obtusirostris'') and
Black Sea salmon The Black Sea salmon (''Salmo labrax'') is a fairly small species of salmon, at about long on average and rarely reaching over . It inhabits the northern Black Sea coasts and inflowing rivers. There are anadromous, lacustrine and resident river ...
(''Salmo labrax''). The
steelhead Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and ...
anadromous form of the rainbow trout migrates to sea, but it is not termed "salmon".
Also, there are several other species which are not true salmon, as in the above list but have common names which refer to them as being salmon. Of those listed below, the Danube salmon or ''
huchen The huchen (''Hucho hucho'') (, from German), also known as Danube salmon or redfish (german: Rotfisch), is a large species of freshwater fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. It is the type species of its genus ''Hucho''. Distri ...
'' is a large freshwater salmonid related to the salmon above, but others are marine fishes of the unrelated
Perciformes Perciformes (), also called the Percomorpha or Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish. If considered a single order, they are the most numerous order of vertebrates, containing about 41% of all bony fish. Perciformes means ...
order: ''
Eosalmo driftwoodensis ''Eosalmo'' is an extinct genus of ancient salmonid that lived during the Eocene geological epoch, epoch. The genus was type locality (geology), first described in 1977 from fossils found in lake, lacustrine deposits in Driftwood Canyon Provin ...
'', the oldest known
Salmoninae Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whitefis ...
fish in the fossil record, helps scientists figure how the different species of salmon diverged from a common ancestor. The
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
n salmon fossil provides evidence that the divergence between Pacific and Atlantic salmon had not yet occurred 40 million years ago. Both the fossil record and analysis of mitochondrial DNA suggest the divergence occurred 10 to 20 million years ago. This independent evidence from DNA analysis and the fossil record indicate that salmon divergence occurred long before the glaciers (of
Quaternary glaciation The Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, is an alternating series of glacial and interglacial periods during the Quaternary period that began 2.58 Ma (million years ago) and is ongoing. Although geologists describe ...
) began their cycle of advance and retreat.


Distribution

*
Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are ...
(''Salmo salar'') reproduce in northern rivers on both coasts of the Atlantic Ocean. **Landlocked salmon (''Salmo salar'' m. ''sebago'') live in a number of lakes in eastern North America and in Northern Europe, for instance in lakes Sebago, Onega, Ladoga,
Saimaa Saimaa ( , ; sv, Saimen) is a lake located in the Finnish Lakeland area in southeastern Finland. At approximately , it is the largest lake in Finland, and the fourth largest natural freshwater lake in Europe. The name Saimaa likely comes from a ...
,
Vänern Vänern ( , also , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake of all Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmland i ...
, and Winnipesaukee. They are not a different species from the Atlantic salmon but have independently evolved a non-migratory life cycle, which they maintain even when they could access the ocean. *
Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus '' Oncorhynchus''. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other ...
(''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') are also known in the United States as king salmon or blackmouth salmon, and as spring salmon in British Columbia. Chinooks are the largest of all Pacific salmon, frequently exceeding . The name tyee is used in British Columbia to refer to Chinook over 30 pounds, and in the Columbia River watershed, especially large Chinooks were once referred to as June hogs. Chinook salmon are known to range as far north as the Mackenzie River and
Kugluktuk Kugluktuk (, ; Inuktitut syllabics: ; ), formerly known as Coppermine until 1 January 1996, is a hamlet located at the mouth of the Coppermine River in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada, on Coronation Gulf, southwest of Victoria Island. I ...
in the central Canadian arctic, and as far south as the Central California coast. *
Chum salmon The chum salmon (''Oncorhynchus keta''), also known as dog salmon or keta salmon, is a species of anadromous salmonid fish from the genus '' Oncorhynchus'' (Pacific salmon) native to the coastal rivers of the North Pacific and the Beringian A ...
(''Oncorhynchus keta'') is known as dog, keta, or calico salmon in some parts of the US. This species has the widest geographic range of the Pacific species: in the eastern Pacific from north of the Mackenzie River in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
to south of the
Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–S ...
in
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and in the western Pacific from Lena River in
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
to the island of Kyūshū in the
Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...
. *
Coho salmon The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family (biology), family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientif ...
(''Oncorhynchus kisutch'') are also known in the US as silver salmon. This species is found throughout the coastal waters of Alaska and British Columbia and as far south as
Central California Central California is generally thought of as the middle third of the state, north of Southern California, which includes Los Angeles, and south of Northern California, which includes San Francisco. It includes the northern portion of the S ...
(
Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area and its major city at the south of the bay, San Jose. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by ...
). It is also now known to occur, albeit infrequently, in the Mackenzie River. *
Masu salmon The masu salmon (''Oncorhynchus masou''), also known as masu ( ja, マス, , trout) or in Japan, is a species of salmon belonging to the genus '' Oncorhynchus'', found in the North Pacific along Northeast/East Asian coasts from the Russian Far ...
or cherry salmon (''Oncorhynchus masou'') are found only in the western Pacific Ocean in Japan, Korea, and Russia. A landlocked subspecies known as the Taiwanese salmon or Formosan salmon (''
Oncorhynchus masou formosanus ''Oncorhynchus masou formosanus'', the Formosan landlocked salmon or Taiwanese salmon, is a freshwater salmonid fish endemic to Taiwan. The Formosan landlocked salmon is a subspecies of the more widespread West-Pacific cherry salmon (or masu ...
'') is found in central Taiwan's Chi Chia Wan Stream. *
Pink salmon Pink salmon or humpback salmon (''Oncorhynchus gorbuscha'') is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. It is the smallest and most abundant of the Pacific salmon. The scientific species name is based on the Russian common name for ...
(''Oncorhynchus gorbuscha''), known as humpies in southeast and southwest Alaska, are found in the western Pacific from Lena River in Siberia to Korea, found throughout northern Pacific, and in the eastern Pacific from the Mackenzie River in Canada to northern California, usually in shorter coastal streams. It is the smallest of the Pacific species, with an average weight of . * Sockeye salmon (''Oncorhynchus nerka'') is also known in the US (especially Alaska) as red salmon. This lake-rearing species is found in the eastern Pacific from Bathurst Inlet in the Canadian Arctic to
Klamath River The Klamath River (Karuk: ''Ishkêesh'', Klamath: ''Koke'', Yurok: ''Hehlkeek 'We-Roy'') flows through Oregon and northern California in the United States, emptying into the Pacific Ocean. By average discharge, the Klamath is the second larges ...
in California, and in the western Pacific from the
Anadyr River The Anadyr (russian: Ана́дырь; Yukaghir: Онандырь; ckt, Йъаайваам) is a river in the far northeast of Siberia which flows into the Gulf of Anadyr of the Bering Sea and drains much of the interior of Chukotka Autonomous ...
in Siberia to northern
Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...
island in Japan. Although most adult Pacific salmon feed on small fish, shrimp, and
squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...
, sockeye feed on
plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...
they filter through
gill raker Gill rakers in fish are bony or cartilaginous processes that project from the branchial arch (gill arch) and are involved with suspension feeding tiny prey. They are not to be confused with the gill filaments that compose the fleshy part of the ...
s.
Kokanee salmon The kokanee salmon (''Oncorhynchus nerka''), also known as the kokanee trout, little redfish, silver trout, kikanning, Kennerly's salmon, Kennerly's trout, or Walla, is the non-anadromous form of the sockeye salmon (meaning that they do not migrat ...
are the landlocked form of sockeye salmon. *Danube salmon, or
huchen The huchen (''Hucho hucho'') (, from German), also known as Danube salmon or redfish (german: Rotfisch), is a large species of freshwater fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. It is the type species of its genus ''Hucho''. Distri ...
(''Hucho hucho''), are the largest permanent freshwater salmonid species.


Life cycle

Salmon eggs are laid in freshwater streams typically at high latitudes. The
eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...
hatch into alevin or sac fry. The fry quickly develop into parr with camouflaging vertical stripes. The parr stay for six months to three years in their natal stream before becoming smolts, which are distinguished by their bright, silvery colour with
scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...
that are easily rubbed off. Only 10% of all salmon eggs are estimated to survive to this stage. The smolt body chemistry changes, allowing them to live in salt water. While a few species of salmon remain in fresh water throughout their life cycle, the majority are
anadromous Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousan ...
and migrate to the ocean for maturation: in these species, smolts spend a portion of their out-migration time in brackish water, where their body chemistry becomes accustomed to
osmoregulation Osmoregulation is the active regulation of the osmotic pressure of an organism's body fluids, detected by osmoreceptors, to maintain the homeostasis of the organism's water content; that is, it maintains the fluid balance and the concentration o ...
in the ocean. This body chemistry change is hormone-driven, causing physiological adjustments in the function of osmoregulatory organs such as the gills, which leads to large increases in their ability to secrete salt. Hormones involved in increasing
salinity tolerance Halotolerance is the adaptation of living organisms to conditions of high salinity. Halotolerant species tend to live in areas such as hypersaline lakes, coastal dunes, saline deserts, salt marshes, and inland salt seas and springs. Halophil ...
include
insulin-like growth factor I Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), also called somatomedin C, is a hormone similar in molecular structure to insulin which plays an important role in childhood growth, and has anabolic effects in adults. IGF-1 is a protein that in humans is ...
, cortisol, and
thyroid hormones File:Thyroid_system.svg, upright=1.5, The thyroid system of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4 rect 376 268 820 433 Thyroid-stimulating hormone rect 411 200 849 266 Thyrotropin-releasing hormone rect 297 168 502 200 Hypothalamus rect 66 216 386 25 ...
, which permits the fish to endure the transition from a freshwater environment to the ocean. The salmon spend about one to five years (depending on the species) in the open ocean, where they gradually become sexually mature. The adult salmon then return primarily to their natal streams to spawn. Atlantic salmon spend between one and four years at sea. When a fish returns after just one year's sea feeding, it is called a grilse in Canada, Britain, and Ireland. Grilse may be present at spawning, and go unnoticed by large males, releasing their own sperm on the eggs. Prior to spawning, depending on the species, salmon undergo changes. They may grow a hump, develop canine-like teeth, or develop a kype (a pronounced curvature of the jaws in male salmon). All change from the silvery blue of a fresh-run fish from the sea to a darker colour. Salmon can make amazing journeys, sometimes moving hundreds of miles upstream against strong currents and rapids to reproduce. Chinook and sockeye salmon from central Idaho, for example, travel over and climb nearly from the Pacific Ocean as they return to spawn. Condition tends to deteriorate the longer the fish remain in fresh water, and they then deteriorate further after they spawn, when they are known as kelts. In all species of Pacific salmon, the mature individuals die within a few days or weeks of spawning, a trait known as semelparity. Between 2 and 4% of Atlantic salmon kelts survive to spawn again, all females. However, even in those species of salmon that may survive to spawn more than once (iteroparity), postspawning mortality is quite high (perhaps as high as 40 to 50%). To lay her roe, the female salmon uses her tail (caudal fin), to create a low-pressure zone, lifting gravel to be swept downstream, excavating a shallow depression, called a redd. The redd may sometimes contain 5,000 eggs covering . The eggs usually range from orange to red. One or more males approach the female in her redd, depositing sperm, or milt, over the roe. The female then covers the eggs by disturbing the gravel at the upstream edge of the depression before moving on to make another redd. The female may make as many as seven redds before her supply of eggs is exhausted. Each year, the fish experiences a period of rapid growth, often in summer, and one of slower growth, normally in winter. This results in ring formation around an earbone called the otolith (annuli), analogous to the growth rings visible in a tree trunk. Freshwater growth shows as densely crowded rings, sea growth as widely spaced rings; spawning is marked by significant erosion as body mass is converted into eggs and milt. Freshwater streams and estuary, estuaries provide important habitat for many salmon species. They feed on insects, terrestrial and aquatic insects, amphipods, and other crustaceans while young, and primarily on other fish when older. Eggs are laid in deeper water with larger gravel and need cool water and good water flow (to supply oxygen) to the developing embryos. Mortality of salmon in the early life stages is usually high due to natural predation and human-induced changes in habitat, such as siltation, high water temperatures, low oxygen concentration, loss of stream cover, and reductions in river flow. Estuaries and their associated wetlands provide vital nursery areas for the salmon prior to their departure to the open ocean. Wetlands not only help buffer the estuary from silt and pollutants, but also provide important feeding and hiding areas. Salmon not killed by other means show greatly accelerated deterioration (phenoptosis, or "programmed aging") at the end of their lives. Their bodies rapidly deteriorate right after they spawn as a result of the release of massive amounts of corticosteroids. File:SalmonoidsBergeau.jpg, Juvenile salmon, parr, grow up in the relatively protected natal river File:Coho.jpg, The parr lose their camouflage bars and become smolt as they become ready for the transition to the ocean. File:Lake Washington Ship Canal Fish Ladder pamphlet - ocean phase Sockeye.jpg, Male ocean-phase adult sockeye File:Oncorhynchus nerka.flipped.jpg, Male spawning-phase adult sockeye


Diet

As adults, salmon eat a variety of other sea creatures, including smaller fish such as lanternfish, Herring, herrings, Sand lance, sand lances, and barracudina. They also eat krill, squid, and Polychaete, polychaete worms. They are also known to eat Grasshopper, grasshoppers.


Ecology


Bears

In the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, salmon are keystone species, supporting wildlife such as birds, bears and Otter, otters. The bodies of salmon represent a transfer of nutrients from the ocean, rich in nitrogen, sulfur, carbon and phosphorus, to the forest ecosystem. Grizzly bears function as ecosystem engineers, capturing salmon and carrying them into adjacent wooded areas. There they deposit nutrient-rich urine and feces and partially eaten carcasses. Bears are estimated to leave up to half the salmon they harvest on the forest floor, in densities that can reach 4,000 kilograms per hectare, providing as much as 24% of the total nitrogen available to the riparian woodlands. The foliage of Picea glauca, spruce trees up to from a stream where grizzlies fish salmon have been found to contain nitrogen originating from fished salmon.


Beavers

Beavers also function as ecosystem engineers; in the process of clear-cutting and damming, beavers alter their ecosystems extensively. Beaver ponds can provide critical habitat for juvenile salmon. An example of this was seen in the years following 1818 in the Columbia River Basin. In 1818, the British government made an agreement with the U.S. government to allow U.S. citizens access to the Columbia catchment (see Treaty of 1818). At the time, the Hudson's Bay Company sent word to Fur trapping, trappers to extirpate all furbearers from the area in an effort to make the area less attractive to U.S. fur traders. In response to the elimination of beavers from large parts of the river system,
salmon run ''Salmon Run'' is a 1982 video game for the Atari 8-bit family created by Bill Williams and distributed via the Atari Program Exchange. ''Salmon Run'' was the first game in Williams's career, followed by a string of successes noted for their o ...
s plummeted, even in the absence of many of the factors usually associated with the demise of salmon runs. Salmon recruitment can be affected by beavers' dams because dams can: *Slow the rate at which nutrients are flushed from the system; nutrients provided by adult salmon dying throughout the fall and winter remain available in the spring to newly hatched juveniles *Provide deeper salmon pool, water pools where young salmon can avoid avian predators *Increase productivity through photosynthesis and by enhancing the conversion efficiency of the cellulose-powered detritus cycle *Create slow-water environments where juvenile salmon put the food they ingest into growth rather than into fighting currents *Increase structural complexity with many physical niches where salmon can avoid predators Beavers' dams are able to nurture salmon juveniles in estuarine tidal marshes where the salinity is less than 10 ppm. Beavers build small dams of generally less than high in channels in the myrtle zone. These dams can be overtopped at high tide and hold water at low tide. This provides refuges for juvenile salmon so they do not have to swim into large channels where they are subject to predation.


Lampreys

It has been discovered that rivers which have seen a decline or disappearance of anadromous lampreys, loss of the lampreys also affects the salmon in a negative way. Like salmon, anadromous lampreys stop feeding and die after spawning, and their decomposing bodies release nutrients into the stream. Also, along with species like rainbow trout and Sacramento sucker, lampreys clean the gravel in the rivers during spawning. Their larvae, called ammocoetes, are filter feeders which contribute to the health of the waters. They are also a food source for the young salmon, and being fattier and oilier, it is assumed predators prefer them over salmon offspring, taking off some of the predation pressure on smolts. Adult lampreys are also the preferred prey of seals and sea lions, which can eat 30 lampreys to every salmon, allowing more adult salmon to enter the rivers to spawn without being eaten by the marine mammals.


Parasites

According to Canadian biologist Dorothy Kieser, the myxozoan parasite ''Henneguya salminicola'' is commonly found in the flesh of salmonids. It has been recorded in the field samples of salmon returning to the Haida Gwaii Islands. The fish responds by walling off the parasitic infection into a number of cysts that contain milky fluid. This fluid is an accumulation of a large number of parasites. ''Henneguya'' and other parasites in the myxosporean group have complex life cycles, where the salmon is one of two hosts. The fish releases the spores after spawning. In the ''Henneguya'' case, the spores enter a second host, most likely an invertebrate, in the spawning stream. When juvenile salmon migrate to the Pacific Ocean, the second host releases a stage infective to salmon. The parasite is then carried in the salmon until the next spawning cycle. The myxosporean parasite that causes whirling disease in trout has a similar life cycle. However, as opposed to whirling disease, the ''Henneguya'' infestation does not appear to cause disease in the host salmon—even heavily infected fish tend to return to spawn successfully. According to Dr. Kieser, a lot of work on ''Henneguya salminicola'' was done by scientists at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo in the mid-1980s, in particular, an overview report which states, "the fish that have the longest fresh water residence time as juveniles have the most noticeable infections. Hence in order of prevalence, coho are most infected followed by sockeye, chinook, chum and pink. As well, the report says, at the time the studies were conducted, stocks from the middle and upper reaches of large river systems in British Columbia such as Fraser River, Fraser, Skeena River, Skeena, Nass River, Nass and from mainland coastal streams in the southern half of B.C., "are more likely to have a low prevalence of infection." The report also states, "It should be stressed that ''Henneguya'', economically deleterious though it is, is harmless from the view of public health. It is strictly a fish parasite that cannot live in or affect warm blooded animals, including man". According to Klaus Schallie, Molluscan Shellfish Program Specialist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, "''Henneguya salminicola'' is found in southern B.C. also and in all species of salmon. I have previously examined smoked chum salmon sides that were riddled with cysts and some sockeye runs in Barkley Sound (southern B.C., west coast of Vancouver Island) are noted for their high incidence of infestation." Sea lice, particularly ''Lepeophtheirus salmonis'' and various ''Caligus'' species, including ''C. clemensi'' and ''C. rogercresseyi'', can cause deadly infestations of both farm-grown and wild salmon. Sea lice are ectoparasites which feed on mucus, blood, and skin, and migrate and latch onto the skin of wild salmon during free-swimming, planktonic nauplii and copepodid larval stages, which can persist for several days. Large numbers of highly populated, open-net salmon farms can create exceptionally large concentrations of sea lice; when exposed in river estuaries containing large numbers of open-net farms, many young wild salmon are infected, and do not survive as a result. Adult salmon may survive otherwise critical numbers of sea lice, but small, thin-skinned juvenile salmon migrating to sea are highly vulnerable. On the Pacific coast of Canada, the louse-induced mortality of pink salmon in some regions is commonly over 80%.


Effect of pile driving

The risk of injury caused by Pile driver#Environmental effects .28offshore pile driving.29, underwater pile driving has been studied by Dr. Halvorsen and her co-workers. The study concluded that the fish are at risk of injury if the cumulative sound exposure level exceeds 210 decibel, dB relative to 1 μPa2 s.


Wild fisheries


Commercial

As can be seen from the production chart at the left, the global capture reported by different countries to the FAO of commercial wild salmon has remained fairly steady since 1990 at about one million tonnes per year. This is in contrast to farmed salmon (below) which has increased in the same period from about 0.6 million tonnes to well over two million tonnes. Nearly all captured wild salmon are
Pacific salmon ''Oncorhynchus'' is a genus of fish in the family Salmonidae; it contains the Pacific salmon and Pacific trout. The name of the genus is derived from the Greek ὄγκος (ónkos, “lump, bend”) + ῥύγχος (rhúnkhos, “snout”), i ...
. The capture of wild
Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are ...
has always been relatively small, and has declined steadily since 1990. In 2011 only 2,500 tonnes were reported. In contrast, about half of all farmed salmon are Atlantic salmon.


Recreational

Recreational fishing, Recreational salmon fishing can be a technically demanding kind of sport fishing, not necessarily intuitive for beginning fishermen. A conflict exists between commercial fishermen and recreational fishermen for the right to salmon fish stocks, stock resources. Commercial fishing in estuaries and coastal areas is often restricted so enough salmon can return to their natal rivers where they can spawn and be available for sport fishing. On parts of the North American West Coast salmon sport fishing has completely replaced inshore commercial salmon fishing. In most cases, the commercial value of a salmon sold as seafood can be several times less than the value attributed to the same fish caught by a sport fisherman. This is "a powerful economic argument for allocating stock resources preferentially to sport fishing".


Farms

Salmon aquaculture is a major contributor to the world production of farmed finfish, representing about US$10 billion annually. Other commonly cultured fish species include tilapia, catfish, Barred sand bass, sea bass, carp and bream. Salmon farming is significant in
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
, Scotland, Canada and the Faroe Islands; it is the source for most salmon consumed in the United States and Europe. Atlantic salmon are also, in very small volumes, farmed in Russia and Tasmania, Australia. Salmon are carnivorous, and need to be fed meals produced from catching other wild forage fish and other marine organisms. Salmon farming leads to a high demand for wild forage fish. As a predator, salmon require large nutritional intakes of protein, and farmed salmon consume more fish than they generate as a final product. On a dry weight basis, 2–4 kg of wild-caught fish are needed to produce one kilogram of salmon. As the salmon farming industry expands, it requires more forage fish for feed, at a time when 75% of the world's monitored fisheries are already near to or have exceeded their maximum sustainable yield. The industrial-scale extraction of wild forage fish for salmon farming affects the survivability of other wild predatory fish which rely on them for food. Work continues on substituting vegetable protein (nutrient), proteins for animal proteins in the salmon diet. This substitution results in lower levels of the highly valued omega-3 fatty acid content in the farmed product. Intensive salmon farming uses open-net cages, which have low production costs. It has the drawback of allowing disease and sea lice to spread to local wild salmon stocks. Another form of salmon production, which is safer but less controllable, is to raise salmon in hatchery, hatcheries until they are old enough to become independent. They are released into rivers in an attempt to increase the salmon population. This system is referred to as ranching. It was very common in countries such as Sweden, before the Norwegians developed salmon farming, but is seldom done by private companies. As anyone may catch the salmon when they return to spawn, a company is limited in benefiting financially from their investment. Because of this, the ranching method has mainly been used by various public authorities and non-profit groups, such as the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association, as a way to increase salmon populations in situations where they have declined due to overharvesting, construction of dams and habitat destruction or habitat fragmentation, fragmentation. Negative consequences to this sort of population manipulation include genetic "dilution" of the wild stocks. Many jurisdictions are now beginning to discourage supplemental fish planting in favour of harvest controls, and habitat improvement and protection. A variant method of fish stocking, called ocean ranching, is under development in Alaska. There, the young salmon are released into the ocean far from any wild salmon streams. When it is time for them to spawn, they return to where they were released, where fishermen can catch them. An alternative method to hatcheries is to use spawning channels. These are canal, artificial streams, usually parallel to an existing stream, with concrete or rip-rap sides and gravel bottoms. Water from the adjacent stream is piped into the top of the channel, sometimes via a header pond, to settle out sediment. Spawning success is often much better in channels than in adjacent streams due to the control of floods, which in some years can wash out the natural redds. Because of the lack of floods, spawning channels must sometimes be cleaned out to remove accumulated sediment. The same floods that destroy natural redds also clean the regular streams. Spawning channels preserve the natural selection of natural streams, as there is no benefit, as in hatcheries, to use prophylactic chemicals to control diseases. Farm-raised salmon are fed the carotenoids astaxanthin and canthaxanthin to match their flesh colour to wild salmon to improve their marketability. Wild salmon get these carotenoids, primarily astaxanthin, from eating shellfish and krill. One proposed alternative to the use of wild-caught fish as feed for the salmon, is the use of soy-based products. This should be better for the local environment of the fish farm, but producing soy beans has a high environmental cost for the producing region. The fish omega-3 fatty acid content would be reduced compared to fish-fed salmon. Another possible alternative is a yeast-based coproduct of bioethanol production, proteinaceous fermentation biomass. Substituting such products for engineered feed can result in equal (sometimes enhanced) growth in fish. With its increasing availability, this would address the problems of rising costs for buying hatchery fish feed. Yet another attractive alternative is the increased use of seaweed. Seaweed provides essential minerals and vitamins for growing organisms. It offers the advantage of providing natural amounts of dietary fiber and having a lower glycemic load than grain-based fish meal. In the best-case scenario, widespread use of seaweed could yield a future in aquaculture that eliminates the need for land, freshwater, or fertilizer to raise fish.


Management

Salmon population dynamics of fisheries, population levels are of concern in the Atlantic and in some parts of the Pacific. The population of wild salmon declined markedly in recent decades, especially North Atlantic populations, which spawn in the waters of western Europe and eastern Canada, and wild salmon in the Snake River, Snake and Columbia River systems in northwestern United States. Alaska salmon fishery, Alaska fishery stocks are still abundant, and catches have been on the rise in recent decades, after the state initiated limitations in 1972. Some of the most important Alaskan salmon sustainable wild fisheries are located near the Kenai River, Copper River (Alaska), Copper River, and in Bristol Bay. Fish farming of Pacific salmon is outlawed in the United States Exclusive Economic Zone, however, there is a substantial network of publicly funded hatchery, hatcheries, and the State of Alaska's fisheries management system is viewed as a leader in the management of wild Fish stocks, fish stocks. In Canada, returning Skeena River wild salmon support commercial fisheries, commercial, Artisan fishing, subsistence and recreational fishing, recreational fisheries, as well as the area's diverse wildlife on the coast and around communities hundreds of miles inland in the watershed. The status of wild salmon in Washington is mixed. Of 435 wild stocks of salmon and steelhead, only 187 of them were classified as healthy; 113 had an unknown status, one was extinct, 12 were in critical condition and 122 were experiencing depressed populations. The commercial salmon fisheries in California have been either severely curtailed or closed completely in recent years, due to critically low returns on the Klamath and or Sacramento rivers, causing millions of dollars in losses to commercial fishermen. Both Atlantic and Pacific salmon are popular sportfish. Salmon populations have been established in all the Great Lakes. Coho stocks were planted by the state of Michigan in the late 1960s to control the growing population of non-native alewife (fish), alewife. Now Chinook (king), Atlantic, and coho (silver) salmon are annually stocked in all Great Lakes by most bordering states and provinces. These populations are not self-sustaining and do not provide much in the way of a commercial fishery, but have led to the development of a thriving sport fishery. Wild, self sustaining Pacific salmon populations have been established in New Zealand, Chile, and Argentina. They are highly prized by sport fishers, but others worry about displacing native fish species. Also, and especially in Chile (Aquaculture in Chile), both Atlantic and Pacific salmon are used in net pen farming. In 2020 researchers reported widespread declines in the sizes of four species of wild
Pacific salmon ''Oncorhynchus'' is a genus of fish in the family Salmonidae; it contains the Pacific salmon and Pacific trout. The name of the genus is derived from the Greek ὄγκος (ónkos, “lump, bend”) + ῥύγχος (rhúnkhos, “snout”), i ...
: Chinook, chum, coho, and sockeye. These declines have been occurring for 30 years, and are thought to be associated with climate change and competition with growing numbers of pink and hatchery salmon. Text and images are available under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License


As food

Salmon is a popular
food fish Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ing ...
. Classified as an oily fish, salmon is considered to be healthy due to the fish's high protein (nutrient), protein, high omega-3 fatty acids, and high vitamin D content. Salmon is also a source of cholesterol, with a range of depending on the species. According to reports in the journal ''Science (journal), Science'', farmed salmon may contain high levels of Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins, dioxins. PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) levels may be up to eight times higher in farmed salmon than in wild salmon, but still well below levels considered dangerous. Nonetheless, according to a 2006 study published in the ''Journal of the American Medical Association'', the benefits of eating even farmed salmon still outweigh any risks imposed by contaminants. Farmed salmon has a high omega-3 fatty acid content comparable to wild salmon. The type of omega-3 present may not be a factor for other important health functions. Salmon flesh is generally orange to red, although white-fleshed wild salmon with white-black skin colour occurs. The natural colour of salmon results from carotenoid pigments, largely astaxanthin, but also canthaxanthin, in the flesh. Wild salmon get these carotenoids from eating krill and other tiny shellfish. The vast majority of
Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are ...
available in market around the world are farmed (almost 99%), whereas the majority of Oncorhynchus, Pacific salmon are wild-caught (greater than 80%). Canned salmon in the US is usually wild Pacific catch, though some farmed salmon is available in canned form. Smoked salmon is another popular preparation method, and can either be hot or cold smoking (food), smoked. Lox can refer to either cold-smoked salmon or salmon cured in a brine solution (also called gravlax). Traditional canned salmon includes some skin (which is harmless) and bone (which adds calcium). Skinless and boneless canned salmon is also available. Raw salmon flesh may contain ''Anisakis'' nematodes, marine parasites that cause anisakiasis. Before the availability of refrigeration, the Japanese did not consume raw salmon. Salmon and salmon roe have only recently come into use in making sashimi (raw fish) and sushi. To the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, salmon is considered a vital part of the diet. Specifically, the indigenous peoples of Haida Gwaii, located near former Queen Charlotte Island in
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, rely on salmon as one of their main sources of food, although many other bands have fished Pacific waters for centuries. Salmon are not only ancient and unique, but it is important because it is expressed in culture, art forms, and ceremonial feasts. Annually, salmon spawn in Haida, feeding on everything on the way upstream and down. Within the Haida nation, salmon is referred to as ''"tsiin"'', and is prepared in several ways including smoking, baking, frying, and making soup. Historically, there has always been enough salmon, as traditional subsistence fishing methods did not result in overfishing, and people only took what they needed. In 2003, a report on First Nations in Canada, First Nations participation in commercial fisheries, including salmon, commissioned by BC's Ministry of Agriculture and Food found that there were 595 First Nation-owned and operated commercial vessels in the province. Of those vessels, First Nations' members owned 564. However, employment within the industry has decreased overall by 50% in the last decade, with 8,142 registered commercial fishermen in 2003. This has affected employment for many fisherman, who rely on salmon as a source of income. American black bear, Black bears also rely on salmon as food. The leftovers the bears leave behind are considered important nutrients for the forests of Canada, Canadian forest, such as the soil, trees and plants. In this sense, the salmon feed the forest and in return receive clean water and gravel in which to hatch and grow, sheltered from extremes of temperature and water flow in times of high and low rainfall. However, the condition of the salmon in Haida has been affected in recent decades. Due to logging and development, much of the salmon's habitat (i.e., Ain River (Haida Gwaii), Ain River) has been destroyed, resulting in the fish being close to endangered. For residents, this has resulted in limits on catches, in turn, has affected families diets, and cultural events such as feasts. Some of the salmon systems in danger include: the Davidon, Naden, Mamim, and Mathers. It is clear that further protection is needed for salmon, such as their habitats, where logging commonly occurs.


History

The salmon has long been at the heart of the culture and livelihood of coastal dwellers, which can be traced as far back as 5,000 years when archeologists discovered Nisqually people, Nisqually tribe remnants. The original distribution of the genus ''Oncorhynchus'' covered the Pacific Rim coastline. History shows salmon used tributaries, rivers and estuaries without regard to jurisdiction for 18–22 million years. Baseline data is near impossible to recreate based on the inconsistent historical data, but there has been massive depletion since the 1900s. The Pacific Northwest once sprawled with native inhabitants who ensured little degradation was caused by their actions to salmon habitats. As animists, the indigenous people relied not only for salmon for food, but spiritual guidance. The role of the salmon spirit guided the people to respect ecological systems such as the rivers and tributaries the salmon used for spawning. Natives often used the entire fish and left little waste by turning the bladder into glue, and using bones for toys and skin for clothing and shoes. The original salmon ceremony, introduced by indigenous tribes on the Pacific coast, consisted of three major parts. First was the welcoming of the first catch, and then the cooking of it. Finally the bones were returned to the sea to induce hospitality so other salmon would give their lives to the people of that village. Many tribes, such as the Yurok, had a taboo against harvesting the first fish that swam upriver in summer, but once they confirmed that the salmon had returned in abundance they would begin to catch them in plentiful. The indigenous practices were guided by deep ecological wisdom, which was eradicated when Euro-American settlements began to be developed. Salmon have a much grander history than what is presently shown today. The salmon that once dominated the Pacific Ocean are now just a fraction in population and size. The Pacific salmon population is now less than 1–3% of what it was when Lewis and Clark arrived at the region. In his 1908 State of the Union address, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt observed that the fisheries were in significant decline:
''The salmon fisheries of the Columbia River are now but a fraction of what they were twenty-five years ago, and what they would be now if the United States Government had taken complete charge of them by intervening between Oregon and Washington. During these twenty-five years the fishermen of each State have naturally tried to take all they could get, and the two legislatures have never been able to agree on joint action of any kind adequate in degree for the protection of the fisheries. At the moment the fishing on the Oregon side is practically closed, while there is no limit on the Washington side of any kind, and no one can tell what the courts will decide as to the very statutes under which this action and non-action result. Meanwhile very few salmon reach the spawning grounds, and probably four years hence the fisheries will amount to nothing; and this comes from a struggle between the associated, or gill-net, fishermen on the one hand, and the owners of the fishing wheels up the river.''
On the Columbia River the Chief Joseph Dam completed in 1955 completely blocks salmon migration to the upper Columbia River system. The Fraser River salmon population was affected by the 1914 slide caused by the Canadian Pacific Railway at Hells Gate (British Columbia), Hells Gate. The 1917 catch was one quarter of the 1913 catch. The Salmon argument, origin of the word for "salmon" was one of the arguments about the location of the origin of the Indo-European languages.


Mythology

The salmon is an important creature in several strands of Celtic mythology and poetry, which often associated them with wisdom and venerability. In Irish folklore, fishermen associated salmon with fairies and thought it was unlucky to refer to them by name. In Irish mythology, a creature called the Salmon of Knowledge plays key role in the tale ''The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn''. In the tale, the Salmon will grant powers of knowledge to whoever eats it, and is sought by poet Finn Eces for seven years. Finally Finn Eces catches the fish and gives it to his young pupil, Fionn mac Cumhaill, to prepare it for him. However, Fionn burns his thumb on the salmon's juices, and he instinctively puts it in his mouth. In so doing, he inadvertently gains the Salmon's wisdom. Elsewhere in Irish mythology, the salmon is also one of the incarnations of both Tuan mac Cairill and Fintan mac Bóchra. Salmon also feature in Welsh mythology. In the prose tale ''Culhwch and Olwen'', the Salmon of Llyn Llyw is the oldest animal in Britain, and the only creature who knows the location of Mabon ap Modron. After speaking to a string of other ancient animals who do not know his whereabouts, King Arthur's men Sir Kay, Cai and Bedivere, Bedwyr are led to the Salmon of Llyn Llyw, who lets them ride its back to the walls of Mabon's prison in Gloucester. In Norse mythology, after Loki tricked the blind god Höðr into killing his brother Baldr, Loki jumped into a river and transformed himself into a salmon to escape punishment from the other Æsir, gods. When they held out a net to trap him he attempted to leap over it but was caught by Thor who grabbed him by the tail with his hand, and this is why the salmon's tail is tapered. Salmon are central spiritually and culturally to Native American mythology on the Pacific coast, from the Haida people, Haida and Coast Salish peoples, to the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples in
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
.


Notes


References


Further reading

* ''Atlas of Pacific Salmon'', Xanthippe Augerot and the State of the Salmon Consortium, University of California Press, 2005, hardcover, 152 pages, * ''Making Salmon: An Environmental History of the Northwest Fisheries Crisis'', Joseph E. Taylor III, University of Washington Press, 1999, 488 pages, * ''Trout and Salmon of North America'', Robert J. Behnke, Illustrated by Joseph R. Tomelleri, The Free Press, 2002, hardcover, 359 pages, * ''Come back, salmon'', By Molly Cone, Sierra Club Books, 48 pages, – A book for juveniles describes the restoration of 'Pigeon Creek'. * ''The salmon: their fight for survival'', By Anthony Netboy, 1973, Houghton Mifflin Co., 613 pages, * ''A River Lost'', by Blaine Harden, 1996, WW Norton Co., 255 pages, . (Historical view of the Columbia River system). * ''River of Life, Channel of Death'', by Keith C. Peterson, 1995, Confluence Press, 306 pages, . (Fish and dams on the Lower Snake River.) * ''Salmon'', by Dr Peter Coates, 2006, * Lackey, Robert T (2000
"Restoring Wild Salmon to the Pacific Northwest: Chasing an Illusion?"
In: Patricia Koss and Mike Katz (Eds) ''What we don't know about Pacific Northwest fish runs: An inquiry into decision-making under uncertainty,'' Portland State University, Portland, Oregon. Pages 91–143. * Mills D (2001
"Salmonids"
In: pp. 252–261, Steele JH, Thorpe SA and Turekian KK (2010) ''Marine Biology: A Derivative of the Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences'', Academic Press. .

*[http://library.state.ak.us/asp/edocs/2007/04/ocn131181333.pdf Salmon age and sex composition and mean lengths for the Yukon River area, 2004 / by Shawna Karpovich and Larry DuBois.] Hosted b
Alaska State Publications Program
*
Trading Tails: Linkages Between Russian Salmon Fisheries and East Asian Markets. Shelley Clarke. (November 2007). 120pp.
. *''The Salmons Tale'', one of the twelve Ionan Tales by Jim MacCool


External links


"Last Stand of the American Salmon,"
G. Bruce Knecht for Men's Journal
''Plea for the Wanderer'', an NFB documentary on West Coast salmon

Arctic Salmon on Facebook
research project studying Pacific salmon in the Arctic and potential links to climate change

A collection of documents describing salmon of the Pacific Northwest.
Salmon Nation
A movement to create a bioregional community, based on the historic spawning area of Pacific salmon (CA to AK).
Arctic Salmon
Pacific salmon distribution and abundance seems to be increasing in the Arctic. Links to a Canadian research project documenting changes in Pacific salmon and studying Pacific salmon ecology in the Arctic. {{Authority control Salmon, Alaskan cuisine Commercial fish Fish common names Oily fish Holarctic fauna