Salmon Species - An Undersea World Of Variety
The world of salmon species can be divided roughly into three main groups: those found in the north Pacific; those found in north Asian waters; and those found in the north Atlantic. The north Pacific group have the greatest variety with five distinct species, while the north Asian and north Atlantic groups have one main species each. There are therefore seven main salmon species in all.
Salmon is a name given to various species of fish that are of the family Salmonidae. Other fish sharing the same family origins have the name of trout. The distinction between the two is the fact that the salmon species have a migratory life style as opposed to the trout who remain in one area throughout their lifetime.
Salmon are anadromous. This means that they start their life cycle in fresh water, migrate to the salt water ocean, and return to the same fresh water area where they started from to start the next generation of salmon. In fact, a salmon will return to the very spot it was born at to spawn. Many studies have been made, but as yet it is unknown how they do this exactly.
The north Pacific salmon species take their names from the notes of George Steller, and early naturalist, who, in 1740, wrote down what the local native people called them. Their common names are the Pink Salmon, Sockeye Salmon, Coho Salmon, Chum Salmon and Chinook Salmon.
Pink Salmon are the smallest, but also the most abundant. They are not considered good to eat, however. Sockeye Salmon are by far the most important to the fishing industry. It is a fish rich in oil, good to eat and the second smallest in the north Pacific. Coho Salmon feed near shores, which makes it a firm favourite with anglers. Chum Salmon can be found just about anywhere. They are widely spread and are the second largest salmon in the Pacific. Chinook Salmon are the largest. They are also the least abundant, and therefore the least important to the Pacific salmon fishing industry.
The Asian Cherry Salmon is a very small salmon species. It is perhaps the prettiest of the Pacific salmon. It can be found around Russia, Japan and Korea. It's travels take it to the most southerly routes of any of the Pacific salmon, which also means that it is the salmon found in the warmest waters.
The Atlantic salmon is a salmon species that travels widely. It can be found from America's Great Lakes, to Russia's White Sea and all the way down to Portugal. They are heavily farmed in many places in the north Atlantic and grace many a table as they are considered very good indeed to eat.
Many of the traditional runs of the north Atlantic salmon are now extinct, or greatly reduced. However, runs still do exist in the rivers of the United States, Canada, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, France and Spain. They enter the rivers from April to November and make their way upstream. They successfully navigate past obstructions as high as 10 feet to arrive in the shallow tributaries in late autumn where they finally spawn.
