Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about
SALMON FACTS
The earliest record of salmon in North America is of the ‘Saber-Tooth Salmon’ in fossils dating up to 7 million years ago … at up to three meters long these weren’t your typical ‘salmon’!
There are seven species of Pacific salmon. Five of them occur in North American waters: Chinook, coho, chum, sockeye, and pink. Masu and amago salmon occur only in Asia. Note: Steelhead trout are often listed as an eighth Pacific salmon, but unlike other Pacific salmon, they are capable of repeat spawning and do not die after spawning.
Pacific salmon are named Oncorhynchus. The name is derived from the Greek onkos (“hook”) and rynchos (“nose”), in reference to the “kype” – the hooked jaw that forms in males during competition for females during mating season.
There are more than 9,000 salmon populations (species and stream combinations) in B.C., organized into about 450 conservation units applied in resource management.
Pacific salmon are distantly related to Atlantic salmon but they can not inter-breed as these species have different numbers of chromosomes.
Pink salmon are the smallest and most abundant species and Chinook salmon are the largest (exceeding 50 kilos) but least abundant species. Interestingly, they have exactly the same number of scales.
Pacific salmon undertake anadromous migrations meaning they reproduce in clean, cool, freshwater streams, but rear for a portion of their life in oceans, where they accumulate more than 99 per cent of their adult weight.
Pacific salmon are also semelparous, meaning that the most adults die after reproduction and become nutrients and food in the freshwater systems. They are the nutrient backbone to B.C.’s coastal ecosystems.
Pacific salmon return ‘home’ to their natal streams to reproduce! Adults return to the same streams that their parents used. This behaviour has allowed the development of extensive genetic diversity within each species, allowing salmon to be highly adaptable.
Scientists believe that homing is accomplished by tracing ‘pheromones’ or chemical signatures of the home stream! Salmon have an extremely keen sense of smell – they can smell chemicals down to one part per million.
And as always have a chilled day from the Viking
Comments
Post a Comment