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Salmon Gallery

<< 3/12 < > Although a single female salmon can lay 1,000 to 17,000 eggs, very few of those eggs actually survive from fertilization to maturity. An average of 3 fish returning for every parent fish that spawns would be considered good production. Many natural and human-related factors cause this high mortality. During spawning eggs may not be fertilized, or may not get buried in the gravel before they are either eaten by predators (birds and fish) or become damaged as they bounce along the river bottom. Some eggs may not mature and hatch due to freezing, drying out if the water level drops too low, being trapped in the gravel, or silt smothering the eggs. Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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