Everything You Wanted to Know About Salmon

Wednesday, September 21, 2011     According to the National Weather Service station at Klawock Airport, we got over 1.5 inches of rain on Monday, and over 1 inch since then.  I’ve heard that Craig, where we are living now, sticks out into the sea unprotected, so has much different weather than Klawock, but I haven’t been able to find a Craig weather station online.  I ran into Les Nelson, who is the Craig City Water Treatment Plant Manager, and they have a rain gauge there, which is right across the street from our place.  His gauge showed over 4 inches for Monday, and 1.1 inches for Tuesday, for a total of FIVE INCHES in 48 hours!  I can totally believe it!  Les had just returned from the City’s reservoir, and said there was two and a half feet of water flowing over the dam! 

I have to mention an anniversary here, a little late.  Kathy’s Mom Eileen’s birthday was September 18.  Although she passed away in March of 2010, she is still in our thoughts, and we know she is pain-free, back together with Hank and Michelle, among others. 

Last night was nice, as Parenthood season premier last night, and Glee

I haven’t written enough about salmon.  This place is all about salmon.  There is a very popular recent book called Salmon in the Trees which explains their lifecycle in essays and excellent pictures.  I’ve written about the creek nearby, where we often take the dogs for a walk.  The road goes over a newer bridge over Dog Salmon Creek.  I just learned its name, having seen a group of high school students out on a field trip, and heard the teacher talking.  Every time we walk to this creek, it has at least 100 salmon in it, many 18 inches long and longer, nice fat ones, heads all pointed upstream, swimming in place against the current.  The only trouble is, they are spent, i.e., they have already been upstream and laid their eggs, and are now back closer to the ocean, just keeping their heads pointed upstream while they die.  These are dog salmon, otherwise known as Chum salmon.  Here’s a chart I put together from Wikipedia and the Alaska Fish and Game page.

Name, spawning                         Alternate name         Size, etc.

Chinook, 1 yr in stream, 2-5 at sea; summer spawn	King	>30 lbs.; most important commercial and sport salmon
Sockeye; 1-2 yrs in freshwater lakes, 2 yrs at sea	Red	7-11 lbs.; Fees on plankton; summer to fall spawn; most economically important in AK, due to higher selling price
Chum, 2-5 years at sea	Dog	Widest ranging salmon
Pink; shortest lifespan, only 2 yrs; spend 18 months at sea, least amt in freshwater	Humpy	3.5 to 4 lbs, smallest species, yet most abundant
Coho; Sept-Jan spawn	Silver	2nd largest salmon; less numerous than Chum, Pink, Sockeye; very important sportfish

The eggs 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.. It is estimated that only 10% of all salmon eggs survive to this stage.  The smolt body chemistry changes, allowing them to live in salt water.
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 stream to spawn. The precise method salmon use to navigate has not been established, though their keen sense of smell is involved. Prior to spawning, depending on the species, salmon undergo changes. They may grow a hump, develop canine teeth, develop a kype (a pronounced curvature of the jaws in male salmon). All will change from the silvery blue of a fresh run fish from the sea to a darker color. Salmon can make amazing journeys, sometimes moving hundreds of miles upstream against strong currents and rapids to reproduce. 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,
Salmon that are 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.

----------Wikipedia

Salmon are all bright silver in the sea. As they return to spawn, their colors may change to brown, bright red, green, or stripes. The spawning males of different species may also develop a hooked nose, humped back, or fierce teeth which help them attract a mate and defend their spawning territory.
Salmon Have Amazing Senses
A salmon can detect one drop of water from its home stream mixed up in 250 gallons of sea water. Salmon will follow this faint scent trail back to their home stream to spawn.

----Alaska Fish and Game