The Sockeye Salmon

The sockeye salmon is one of the toughest fish in the world! Even tougher than the great white shark! Sockeye salmon are born in freshwater rivers and then migrate to the ocean when they grow up. They spend their adult life in the northern Pacific Ocean, but return to the freshwater rivers where they were born to breed. This journey upstream can be one thousand miles long and is full of dangerous obstacles, such as waterfalls and hydroelectric dams that can block their way. Predators, like American black bears, grizzly bears, Steller's sea lions and American bald eagles, know that it's time for the salmon to migrate and wait for the thousands of fish to swim by.  

Sockeye salmon are blue, silver and gray while living in the ocean. As they make their journey home, sockeyes turn bright red in color and males develop a humped back and hooked jaws. Once they reach fresh water, the females lay their eggs and the males fertilize them. The adult salmon die soon after, and their bodies supply nourishment to the young that later hatch. Young sockeyes spend one to two years in freshwater before migrating to the ocean. They then spend two to three years in the ocean before returning to fresh water. 

Sockeye salmon can grow to 2 to 2.5 feet long. They eat mostly plankton. Trout and char are also members of the salmon family. The coho salmon, the Atlantic salmon, the white spotted char, the artic char, the rainbow trout, and the apache trout all make similar journeys to breed. All of these fish have different colors in their scales. Check our my other posts about fish (the archer fish, the longnose gar and the electric eel)!

Cool Fact: The kokanee is a type of salmon that does not migrate to the ocean. They live their entire lives in freshwater.