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Cooking TipsEverything You Want to Cognize Just just about the Several Salmon Species
by:
Garry Gamber
King Salmon, Sockeye, Silver, Pink, Chum, and Atlantic
Descriptions of the Salmon Species
by Garry Gamber
Did you cognize that there are five species of Pacific salmon and one species of Atlantic salmon? Further, did you cognize that all 5 species of Pacific salmon run wild in Alaska?
We’re proud of our wild salmon here in Alaska, and justly so. On the one hand the wild salmon are great sport fish and we Alaskans love to spend beautiful
summer weekends challenging them.
On the else hand our commercial fisheries are healthy and self-sustaining. They are able to catch enough wild salmon to satisfy most of the earth wide demand for fresh wild fillets in the restaurants and prepackaged wild salmon on grocery store shelves.
King Salmon
The Chinook salmon is nicknamed king salmon in Alaska. It is the official Last frontier
state fish.
Description
Of all the Pacific salmon the king is the largest. A 97-pound king was caught by a sport trained worker
in 1986 on the Kenai River. In 1949 a 126 pound king was caught commercially near Petersburg, Alaska. Typically king salmon weigh 30 pounds and above.
The king is lightly and on an irregular basis
spotted on their blue-green back. They likewise have a black pigment on
their gum line. Spawning kings in fresh water range in color from red to copper to just about black.
Life Cycle
All species of Pacific salmon hatch in fresh water, spend part of their life cycle in the ocean, then return to fresh water to spawn.
The king salmon generally live 5 to 7 years, although they can mature by their second to third year. As a result the kings in a spawning run can vary greatly in size. A mature 3-year old may only weigh 4 pounds spell a mature 7-year old may exceed 50 pounds.
The young king salmon feed on organism and insects during their fresh water period. During their second year they migrate to the ocean wherever
they grow rapidly.
Some kings do large spawning migrations. For example, many an of the Yukon Stream kings wish migrate over 2,000 miles during a 60 day period to reach the streams and root in Yukon Territory, Canada.
Taste
The king salmon has a rich flavor, firm flesh, and a pleasing red color. Kings caught at the mouth of the Yukon Stream have a large store of oil in their flesh for their long upstream
migration. The result is an extra-rich flavor, more prized among those who love salmon.
Sockeye Salmon
The Sockeye salmon is likewise called the red salmon due to the bright red color of its flesh, and it is the second most bumper salmon species in Alaska.
Description
Sockeye salmon are the slimmest and most efficient
of the 5 species of Pacific salmon. They take issue
from kings, silvers, and pink salmon by the lack of large black spots, and they take issue
from crony salmon by having more gill rakers on the 1st gill.
Sockeye are generally a greenish-blue color with silver sides and a white or silver belly.
During the spawning season the Sockeye males develop a gibbous back and a hooked jaw. Several male and female Sockeye turn brilliant to dark red as they head upstream
to their spawning grounds.
Life Cycle
After hatching during the winter and defrayment a few months in the stream gravels, the juvenile Sockeye spend 1 to 3 years in fresh
before migrating to the ocean.
The Sockeye spend 1 to 4 years in the ocean, locomote thousands of miles spell feeding and then returning to the same fresh
system wherever
they were born. They reach an average size of 4 to 8 pounds, sometimes reaching in excess of 15 pounds.
Bristol Bay, in southwestern Alaska, annually harvests the largest number of Sockeye salmon in the world. Just just about 10 million to 30 million Sockeye are caught during a short season that lasts only a few weeks.
Taste
The Sockeye salmon has an fine
rich flavor due to the high concentration of oils. It is an superior
source of Omega-3 fatty acids. The rich red flesh color is maintained throughout cookery which results in a beautiful presentation. Several folk consider the Sockeye to be the most flavorful of all the salmon species.
Silver Salmon
Coho salmon are better-known as silver salmon in Last frontier
and are an superior
game fish.
Description
Coho salmon have bright silver sides and have small black spots on their back.
Spawning salmon of several sexes develop red to maroon colored sides. The males develop a hooked snout with large teeth.
Life History
Juvenile silvers live in ponds and lakes formed by rivers and streams. They generally spend one to three years in the streams and may spend as many an as 5 winters in lakes before migrating to the ocean.
Silvers stay in the ocean, wherever
they grow quickly, for just about 18 months before returning to their house streams. They weigh from 8 to 12 pounds, but can range up to 31 pounds. Their length ranges from 25 to 35 inches.
Taste
The flesh color of silver salmon is orange-red and is maintained during cooking. The texture is firm and the fat content is high. The taste is a pleasing full salmon flavor, slightly milder than that of the Sockeye. The size of a fillet is larger than that of the Sockeye, and it is a prized fish for cooking.
Pink Salmon
Pink salmon are likewise better-known as the humpback in Alaska. Prior to spawning the pink salmon develops a pronounced hump on its back.
Description
The color of the pink salmon is generally a bright steely blue on top and silver on the sides. It has many an large black spots on its back and over the entire tail fin. It has small scales and its flesh is pink, appropriate
its name.
The spawning pink salmon develops an olive green to black color on its back with a light-colored to white belly. It develops a really pronounced hump and hooked jaws.
Life Cycle
The young pink salmon hatch during the winter and spend a few months in the stream gravels. During the spring they migrate downriver
to the ocean. They feed on
the beaches before moving out further into the ocean.
Like all salmon, the pinks grow chop-chop in the ocean but they are the smallest of the Pacific salmon species. The pinks reach a size of just about 3 to 5 pounds and just about 20 to 24 inches in length.
The pink salmon spends only two years in the ocean. This two year pattern causes distinct odd-year and even-year cycles which are unrelated to each other.
When the pinks return to freshwater, they are the most bumper of the Pacific salmon species. They do not migrate far upriver, but generally spawn inside
a few miles of the mouth of the river. As with the else Pacific species several male and female pinks wish die inside
a couple of weeks of spawning.
Taste
The pink salmon has a delicate, mild flavor and a light flesh color. Just just about 80% of harvested pinks are canned and are the most common salmon species found on grocery store shelves.
Chum Salmon
Sometimes called “dog salmon” in Alaska, the crony salmon is a traditional source of dried fish for winter use.
Description
Chum salmon have a antimonial greenish-blue back surface with fine black spots. They check sockeye and silver salmon so closely that one of necessity
to examine their gills and fins closely to do a positive identification.
When nearing fresh water the crony salmon develops noticeable vertical bars of green and purple, which gives them another nickname, calico salmon.
The spawning crony develop the typical hooked jaws like else Pacific salmon and large teeth, which partly accounts for their else nickname, dog salmon.
Life Cycle
As with pink salmon, the young crony do not spend more time in fresh water before migrating out into the ocean. They feed near the mouths of their streams for a period before forming schools and moving further out into the ocean.
The chums spend 3 to 5 years in salt water, growing chop-chop after entering the ocean. They generally range in size from 7 to 18 pounds, sometimes reaching 30 pounds in weight.
When the chums return to fresh water they often spawn in the same areas as the pinks, not migrating far up river. One major exception to this pattern is the crony salmon population of the Yukon River. Several of these chums migrate 2000 miles upstream
to spawn in Yukon Territory of Canada. These chums have a really high fat content in preparation for their long migration.
Taste
Chum salmon have a mild, delicate flavor with a medium red flesh color. However, Yukon Stream chums, with their higher fat content, have a rich, full flavor similar to Kings and Sockeye.
Atlantic Salmon
Atlantic salmon are not native to the Pacific coast but are raised in large amount in pens. They run wild on the Atlantic coast only. The Atlantic salmon found in markets are farm-raised, generally originating in salmon farms off Chile or British Columbia, Canada.
Description
Atlantic salmon in the wild have silvery sides and belly with greenish-blue coloration on its back.
Spawning Atlantic salmon develop achromatic
fins and violet
coloration and carmine spots. Living adults are dark in color.
Life Cycle
In the wild young salmon spend one to three years in fresh water before migrating to the ocean. In the ocean the Atlantic salmon ranges for thousands of miles.
They generally return to fresh
by the age of five. Unlike the five Pacific species of salmon, the Atlantic salmon makes not die after spawning. The living adults repeat the migration and spawning cycle.
Farmed Atlantic Salmon
To see several exciting descriptions of farmed salmon click here
Just just about the author:
Garry writes articles for his two favorite health products companies, www.usana.com and www.seasilver.com
Garry likewise owns www.thedatingadvisor.com and www.alaskagoldsmokedsalmon.com
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