Description:
The name sockeye salmon refers to “Suk-kegh,” meaning “red-fish” in the native Halkomelem language of Alaskan inhabitants.
Sockeye features a fusiform, streamlined, laterally compressed body enabling long-distance marine migration and upstream run.
Sea-going sockeye are dark steel blue to greenish-blue on the top (giving them their “blueback” name), iridescent silvery sides, and white belly. Some individuals may exhibit dark speckling and irregular marks on the dorsal fin.
As sockeye returns to their freshwater spawning grounds, their heads turn olive green, and their bodies turn bright red, hence their name, “red” salmon.
Male sockeye develops a humped back and hooked jaws filled with tiny, visible teeth.
Average length 18 in. and weigh 5–15 lb. Lifespan is about 4-5 years.
Kokanee salmon
Some sockeyes do not migrate to the ocean and live their entire lives in freshwater lakes. These landlocked sockeyes are known as the Kokanee in the local Salish language. They are much smaller in size and measure about 10-12 In.
Biology
Sockeye salmon are anadromous fish. In the spring, fry emerge from the nest, and go to the sea during their first summer before migrating to the ocean. They grow quickly in size and return as adults to natal streams to spawn in the summer.
Just before spawning, the female selects a suitable ground, usually with a gravel bottom, and digs a nest with its tail.
The female is then attended by a dominant male and sometimes a few subordinate males.
All adult sockeye die after spawning.
Habitat
Sockeye is the smallest of Pacific salmons. In a way similar to other salmon species. They are migratory fish completing their fascinating journey from natal freshwater streams, rivers, lakes, and deep ocean waters and back again to their natal waters to spawn and die.
Sockeye habitat requires cold, clean, oxygenated water to survive as warm ocean temperatures increase the energy expenditure during the migration and produce fewer eggs on the spawning grounds.
Fry feed primarily on zooplankton, fish larvae, and insects, whereas adults largely depend upon marine zooplankton, krill, insects, and small crustaceans.
