The Life Cycle of Salmon


The Life Cycle of a Salmon




In this blog post I will be going over the life cycle of a Salmon.
All of the information I address can be found in this video.

SPAWNING-Femal Salmon start the process by laying thousands of eggs over a few days, males fertilize them immediately afterwards, the female then covers the eggs and stays for a few weeks to protect them, cold clean water delivers oxygen and carries away waste during this process, the recently hatched fry use yolksacks for nourishment. After they grow to 1 inch they are labeled as fingerlings, they will come back to the same place to spawn and die like their parents after they come back from the sea.
OUT-MIGRATION- It varies among different species of Salmon between a few days to a few years in freshwater. They eat insects for food, and soon move to the main channel. After that they begin smolting to become ready for there time in the ocean, this is mainly caused by increased daylight and water temperature in the spring. On their travels downstream they encounter estuaries, which are a combo of fresh and salt water that also helps to prepare young salmon for the sea.
OCEAN LIFE- Salmon live in the ocean and grow from 2 to 5 years, and eventually begin to return to their home stream to reproduce.
UPSTREAM MIGRATION- They live off of stored fat and don't eat in this process, and begin deteriorating as they continue towards their spawning grounds, but even after they die, salmon are still useful, their carcasses feed insects and other organisms that in turn feed the young of these now gone salmon.

             I believe Salmon and Steelhead are incredible, because they aren't just freshwater or saltwater organisms, but are actually able to switch multiple times during their lifetime, which, before learning about them, I wasn't aware of. It's very versatile and pretty interesting as well.

         Our way of life and food source is pretty dependent on the salmon population, over 137 different species feed off of their population. They're also a great way to judge the health of a river. Pacific Salmon also fuels a $3 billion dollar industry with tens of thousands of jobs. Also why wouldn't you want to help save a species if you could? Even if they weren't the centerpiece for so many different ecosystems.

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