Salmon

:This article is about the fish. For other uses, see Salmon (disambiguation).

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Salmon is the common name for several species of fish of the Salmonidae family. Several other fishes in the family are called trout. Salmon live in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as the Great Lakes and other land locked lakes. The Kamchatka Peninsula, in the Russian Far East, contains the world's greatest salmon sanctuary.

Related Topics:
Fish - Salmonidae - Trout - Atlantic - Pacific Ocean - Great Lakes - Kamchatka Peninsula

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Salmon are anadromous: they are born in fresh water, migrate to the ocean, then return to fresh water to reproduce. Folklore has it that the fish return to the exact spot where they were born to spawn and modern research shows that usually at least 90% of the fish spawning in a stream were born there. In Alaska, the crossing over to other streams allows salmon to populate new streams, such as those that emerge as a glacier retreats. How they navigate is still a mystery, though their keen sense of smell may be involved. In all species of Pacific salmon, the mature individuals die within a few weeks of spawning.

Related Topics:
Anadromous - Alaska - Glacier

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Coastal dwellers have long respected the salmon. Most peoples of the Northern Pacific shores had a ceremony to honor the first return of the year. For many centuries, people caught the salmon as they swam upriver. A famous spearfishing site on the Columbia River at Celilo Falls was inundated after great dams were built on the river. The Ainu, of northern Japan taught dogs how to catch salmon as they returned to their breeding grounds en masse. Now, salmon are caught in bays and near shore. Long drift net fisheries have been banned on the high seas except off the coast of Ireland.

Related Topics:
Columbia River - Celilo Falls - Ainu - Ireland

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Both Atlantic and Pacific Salmon are important to recreational fishing around the world.

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In the southern hemisphere there is the Australian Salmon, which is a salt water species not related in any way to the salmonide. It is found along the southern coastline of Australia and Tasmania. Commonly caught there with large beach nets, its use as a commercial fish has been declining over the last 20 years.

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