Early last week I had the chance to watch salmon spawning for the first time ever. My supervisor Chrissy took me and some of the gals to a local stream to see summer chum salmon. Salmon have a pretty incredible life cycle and being from the east coast, my knowledge was pretty limited. I’d seen different juvenile salmon right off our pier over the past few months, but these were just little guys and most were the same species -- pink salmon.
Summer chum had been declared extinct in 1989 from this particular creek. Since then, Chimacum Creek, Beach and the estuary have been nursed back to health and record returns have been reported this year. It was at Chimacum Creek where I first was able to attain a broader picture of the amazing salmon life cycle by witnessing their mating ritual. We saw the female chum digging a “redd,” which means creating an indentation in the river/stream bed where eggs can be laid. Behind her, males hovered, vying to become her mate. Eventually, a more dominant male won over and swam up beside the female. As she deposited her eggs, he released his milt. Voila! Let’s keep in mind that some salmon may travel hundreds of miles from the ocean to reach their freshwater spawning grounds. Salmon don't just swim to any old spot either, they travel to the location where they originated. The eggs we saw last week, if they survive to adulthood, will to, return to this spot to spawn.
Summer chum swimming upstream.
The banks of this creek were strewn with decaying salmon who had already made the journey. At first I thought it unfortunate that they travel all this way, only to spawn and die but, it is all part of the salmon life cycle and important in its own right.
I also learned an awesome way to remember all the different kinds of salmon that day using your hand.
thumb = chum
index finger = sockeye (you use a poking motion toward your eye w/ this finger)
middle finger = king (since it's the tallest finger)
ring finger = silver (since a lot of people wear silver rings on this finger)
pinkie = pink
Summer chum had been declared extinct in 1989 from this particular creek. Since then, Chimacum Creek, Beach and the estuary have been nursed back to health and record returns have been reported this year. It was at Chimacum Creek where I first was able to attain a broader picture of the amazing salmon life cycle by witnessing their mating ritual. We saw the female chum digging a “redd,” which means creating an indentation in the river/stream bed where eggs can be laid. Behind her, males hovered, vying to become her mate. Eventually, a more dominant male won over and swam up beside the female. As she deposited her eggs, he released his milt. Voila! Let’s keep in mind that some salmon may travel hundreds of miles from the ocean to reach their freshwater spawning grounds. Salmon don't just swim to any old spot either, they travel to the location where they originated. The eggs we saw last week, if they survive to adulthood, will to, return to this spot to spawn.
Summer chum swimming upstream.
The banks of this creek were strewn with decaying salmon who had already made the journey. At first I thought it unfortunate that they travel all this way, only to spawn and die but, it is all part of the salmon life cycle and important in its own right.
I also learned an awesome way to remember all the different kinds of salmon that day using your hand.
thumb = chum
index finger = sockeye (you use a poking motion toward your eye w/ this finger)
middle finger = king (since it's the tallest finger)
ring finger = silver (since a lot of people wear silver rings on this finger)
pinkie = pink
3 comments:
fascinating!!! thanks for sharing this!!!
Poor, little salmon...
So interesting to learn and makes me sad, but that's life for them. In July when we were in Alaska, I saw a bunch of king salmon making their way back to their birth places. They are beautiful fish and yummy to eat, especially the wild caught ones (versus the farm raised). :)
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