Where pink salmon is found: description of fish, spawning, how long it lives and lifestyle
Pink salmon has been popular in the fishing industry for many years and remains one of the most sought-after types of salmon among consumers. It is well known for its taste, nutritional value and reasonable price, making it a valuable product in the global food market. Consider a detailed description of pink salmon, its lifestyle and where it is found.
View description
Pink salmon is a common fish of the salmon family, known for its small size and habitat in cold sea and ocean waters. It is considered anadromous, that is, it spawns in freshwater rivers, but lives in the s alty waters of the oceans.Male pink salmon develop a distinctive hump on their backs when they are ready to breed, hence the species name.
The oldest relative of pink salmon was a small fish and looked like a grayling that lived in the cold waters of the North American continent more than fifty million years ago. Over the next 30 million years, there is no evidence of the evolution of this salmon species. However, between as early as 20 million years ago, all species of salmon fish that exist today, including pink salmon, were already found in ancient seas.
This is interesting! All humpback salmon fry are initially females, and just before migrating to the ocean, half of them change sex. This is one of the methods nature uses to help this species survive. Since the females have a hardy body, this "transformation" increases the chances that more larvae will survive until the time of migration.
Appearance
Pink salmon is characterized by an elongated and slightly flattened body on the sides, this is a feature that is characteristic of all salmon fish. The head is conical in shape with tiny eyes, with the males having a more elongated head than the females. Tiny teeth are scattered over the jaws, lingual and palatine bones of pink salmon. The scales on the body come off easily, moreover, they are very small.
The upper body of the ocean pink salmon has a blue-green tint, the sides appear silvery, and the bottom is white. When they return to spawn in river waters, they are light grey, while their tummies appear yellow or green with dark spots. As they approach the spawning period, their color darkens, and the head becomes almost black.
Females retain their physique from birth and throughout life, but males undergo a radical transformation:
- the head grows in size and becomes longer;
- a set of large teeth appears on the extended jaw;
- an impressive hump develops along the back.
Pink salmon, a species of salmon, has an adipose fin located between the dorsal and caudal fins. As a rule, the weight of an adult pink salmon is about two and a half kilograms, and the length is 50 cm. The largest specimens recorded weigh seven kilograms and measure seventy-five centimeters in length.
Pink salmon has certain characteristics that distinguish it from other salmon species. These include:
- lack of teeth on the tongue;
- white mouth;
- dark oval markings along the back;
- V-tail fin.
Habitat
Pink salmon is found in abundance in the North Pacific waters.This unusual-looking species of salmon is found off the coast of Alaska in the Arctic Ocean. The most significant populations are found in the North Pacific, where American and Asian groups mix during spawning. Pink salmon has even been known to occasionally appear in parts of the Great Lakes of North America.
Pink salmon lives in the ocean one summer and winter, then in the middle of the second summer migrates to the rivers to breed. The largest fish leave first, followed by the smaller ones. Females reach spawning grounds later than males, and by the end of summer, after spawning is over, only babies return to the sea.
A curious fact. The most notable representative of the ancient salmon family is the now-extinct "saber-toothed salmon" . This fish weighed more than two kilograms and measured about three meters in length. Her "decoration" were five-centimeter fangs.Despite its intimidating appearance and size, it was not a predator; her fangs were just part of the mating outfit.
Pink salmon feels great in cold waters with a temperature of five to fifteen degrees Celsius, ideal - ten degrees. If the temperature rises above twenty-five degrees Celsius, it will be fatal for pink salmon.
Lifestyle
The pink salmon has no fixed habitat and is capable of moving hundreds of miles from its birthplace. Their lives are devoted to reproduction, with a lifespan of only two years, starting as tiny fry and ending at the time of the next spawning. When these fish breed en masse, hundreds of dead adults are found along river banks.
Expert opinionZarechny Maxim ValerievichAgronomist with 12 years of experience. Our best gardening expert.Ask a QuestionPink salmon is a migratory fish that travels to the seas and oceans to feed and then returns to rivers to breed. In their large groups, there are always more males than females.Migrations of pink salmon are shorter than those of chum salmon and occur from June to the end of summer. The fish keeps in the channel, gravitating towards places with large pebbles and strong currents. As soon as the spawning process is completed, the spawners die.
As a rule, salmon fish have an extraordinary sense of direction and are able to return to their original habitat with amazing accuracy. However, pink salmon have not been so lucky in this area, as their inherent "navigation" system sometimes fails, and therefore they sometimes find themselves in places that are not suitable for spawning or habitat. From time to time, a large group of these fish floods one river, completely filling it with their bodies, which, unfortunately, does not allow normal reproduction.
Adults consume large amounts of plankton. In the deepest parts of the ocean, their diet consists of juvenile fish, small fish and squid. When approaching the plume, pink salmon is able to completely change its food source for fry of invertebrates and other fish species.
When they prepare for spawning, their appetite disappears, and the digestive system begins to atrophy; but despite this, they retain a strong grasping reflex, which makes spinning fishing quite successful during this period.
Young growth primarily consumes small inhabitants of the depths of water bodies and plankton. Having migrated to the ocean, they feed on small zooplankton. As they mature, their diet shifts towards larger zooplankton species and smaller fish. Although pink salmon is relatively small compared to other species, it grows at an accelerated rate. By their first summer season, young fish reach a length of about twenty to twenty-five centimeters.
In the mid-1900s, due to the high economic value of pink salmon, attempts were repeatedly made to introduce this species of salmon into the rivers near Murmansk, but all these attempts were unsuccessful.
Spawning
Humpback salmon use their tail fin to dig a nest hole in the bottom of a pond and lay their eggs in it. After spawning and fertilization, the fish buries the hole back with its tail fin.
One female is capable of laying from a thousand to two and a half thousand eggs. These eggs are then fertilized by the male. There are always more males swimming around spawning pits than females. This is because each batch of eggs must be fertilized by another male in order for the genetic code to be passed on to the next generations.
Baby fish (or larvae) appear in November or December, but sometimes they hatch in January. They use up their yolk sac while in the ground and then leave the spawning pits in May. Their path lies to the sea. Unfortunately, most of them do not survive this journey, as they become food for other fish and birds.At this stage of their life, they reach a length of only three centimeters. Their bodies are silver in color, without impurities of other shades.
Pumpkin fry after leaving the river migrate to the North Pacific Ocean and stay in the area until August next year. This species has a two-year life cycle, which explains why there is a two-year periodicity in their population size. This red fish only reaches sexual maturity in its 2nd year.
Are there any enemies
Pink salmon is under great threat in its natural habitat, as a variety of predators feed on its eggs, including char, grayling, gulls, wild ducks and other fish.
In addition, adult pink salmon are often hunted by beluga whales, seals, sharks, and in freshwater spawning grounds they become food for bears, otters and birds of prey.
It is interesting to note that more than a third of the Pacific salmon caught worldwide is pink salmon.During the 1980s, an average of two hundred and forty thousand tons of this fish was caught annually. The share of the Soviet Union in the total salmon fishery was about eighty percent.
In addition to the danger from predators, pink salmon suffers from competition from other species that seek the same food as it. In some cases, pink salmon also causes a decline in the number of other species of fish or birds. Scientists have noticed a correlation between the increase in the number of pink salmon in the North Pacific waters and the fall in the population of petrels. The two species fight for food when petrels spend their winter time in the north. They do not have enough food with an abundance of pink salmon in local waters, which leads to the death of birds during the next trip to the south.
View status
The population of pink salmon changes dramatically in its natural habitat due to the cyclical nature of its life, while predators practically do not affect its numbers. Although pink salmon is a popular target for fishing, it is not in danger of extinction as the status of the species remains stable.
In the past two decades, the population of pink salmon living in the northern part of the Pacific waters has doubled compared to the 1970s of the last century. This surge occurred not only due to the natural growth of the species, but also as a result of the introduction of fry from incubators. Now there are no farms with a full cycle of growing pink salmon, which makes it even more desirable for buyers.
Canadian scientists have made a shocking discovery: the close proximity of wild pink salmon spawning grounds to fish hatcheries where other types of salmon are grown causes significant harm to the natural population of the former. The reason for the death of juvenile fish is believed to be a special type of lice, which they pick up from farmed fish when they migrate to the ocean. If nothing is done, then in 4 years only 1% of the indigenous population will remain in these regions.
Historical background
Scientists in Russia have observed a strange feature of pink salmon: it migrates to the rivers of Primorye to breed only in odd years, and to the rivers of Kamchatka and Amur - in even years. There is no consensus on the reasons for this behavior yet.
An interesting aspect of this type of fish is that they do not have distinct subspecies. This is due to three factors:
- Individuals from different populations are able to mix with each other.
- Pink salmon has an amazing tolerance to many environmental elements throughout its life cycle.
- The homogeneity of the environment throughout its range prevents the formation of subspecies with unique characteristics and external features.
