Sockeye Salmon is also known as red salmon, redfish and blueback. Its coloration ranges from silvery with a back of metallic blue when it is in the ocean, to deep red with a green head when it is spawning. Adult sockeye average 18 to 24 inches and they usually weigh between three and six pounds. Sockeye salmon are typically "anadromous" (fish that migrate as juveniles from fresh water to the ocean and then return to spawn in fresh water), but two forms, the Kokanee and "residual" sockeye remain in fresh water to reproduce. The Kokanee resemble anadromous sockeye and have the same bright red coloration at spawning, but they are smaller in size. Kokanee are "resident" fish, or fish that live their entire lives only in fresh water. "Residual" sockeye may have anadromous parents, but do not necessarily migrate to the ocean. After a generation or two of entirely freshwater existence, the residual sockeye are able to produce anadromous smolts. These fish do not adopt strong spawning coloration, and they reproduce in fresh water without the traditional sockeye migratory journey.
Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
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