Chum salmon
From Freepedia
| Chum salmon | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image:Chum salmon.jpg | ||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
| Oncorhynchus keta (Walbaum, 1792) |
Keta can also refer to a character from the Myst Franchise.
The Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. It is a Pacific salmon and is also known as dog salmon or Keta salmon.
Their ocean coloration of silvery blue green changes for spawning to splotchy purplish red and with distinct yellow and pink vertical bars on their sides. Color in the female is similar but not usually as distinct. Chum salmon develop a very hooked jaw with fierce teeth at spawning time. Chum, on average, weigh eight to nine pounds and measure 40 inches in length
Most Chum Salmon spawn in small streams and intertidal zones, especially among stalks of eelgrass. Some Chum travel more than 3,200 km (2,000 miles) up the Yukon River. The young feed on small insects in streams and estuaries. Chum fry migrate out to sea from March through July, almost immediately after becoming free swimmers. They spend one to three years traveling long distances in the ocean. These are the last salmon to spawn (November to January). They utilize the lower tributaries of the watershed, tend to build redds in shallow edges of the watercourse and at the tail end of deep pools.
The chum salmon is found in the north Pacific in the waters of Korea, Japan, and the Okhotsk and Bering seas (Kamchatka, Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Khabarovsk Krai, Primorsky Krai), and from Alaska to San Diego in the United States.
