The diversity of marine life can surprise people. Today, several thousand species of fish are found in the seas and oceans. Against this background, one species stands out that belongs to the salmonids. This is due to the fact that the fish belonging to this family are not completely marine. After all, part of their life passes in the seas, and the other in rivers.
Origin and description
Salmon belong to the group that appeared a long time ago: according to some reports, its ancestors originated on Earth millions of years ago. Although they took their present form much later. It is believed that about fifty species belong to this family.
The length of salmon can even reach up to two meters. At the same time, there are also species that are small enough - only twenty or thirty centimeters. The weight of this fish is also a serious indicator. For example, salmon species such as taimen or salmon reach seventy kilograms.
Their structure is as close as possible to herring. A laterally compressed body is characterized by a lateral line. On the middle part of the abdomen are multi-beam fins, while on the pectorals there are no prickly rays. Characteristics of salmon are spots that are its “calling card". Indeed, even the name itself, which has an Indo-European root, means "to be covered in spots."
Kinds
This family includes enough varieties. Among them are river or lake trout, for example, Sevan ishkhan, Atlantic, the brightest representative of which is salmon, Siberian, char, and, of course, Pacific or Far Eastern salmon - pink salmon, chum salmon, etc.
Salmon species also differ in life expectancy. This is due to the unequal time of their freshwater period of existence. Hence the difference between species - in complex and sharply simplified age structures. Salmon is a fish that easily changes its lifestyle, its appearance and color, changing depending on conditions.
The meat of this marine creature tastes great, so many species of salmon have become targets for fishing.
Pacific salmon
This variety is known in our country under a different name. This is Far Eastern salmon. His family includes six representatives who die after spawning. Most often, Far Eastern salmon in Russia is found in Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and off the island of Sakhalin. Far Eastern salmon is monocyclic. Soon after spawning in fresh water, this fish dies.
Far Eastern salmon is found throughout the northern Pacific Ocean, including Japan, as well as the Sea of Okhotsk with the Bering Sea. It does not form large clusters and remains in the upper layers, as a rule, up to ten meters deep. Salmon food is very diverse. This can be small pelagic fish and its young, crustaceans, winged mollusks, small squids, worms, sometimes even jellyfish and ctenophores. Fish from the genus Far Eastern during the marine period of life is covered with silver, easily falling scales. There are no teeth on the jaws.
This is a passing genus, spawning in fresh waters and walking in the sea. Six different representatives are known - these are pink salmon, red, chum, chinook salmon, coho salmon and sim. Far Eastern salmon spawns only once in its entire short life, dying after spawning.
Spawning Places
Sexually mature coeval males and females “put on” a wedding dress. They acquire a special shape of the body and its color. For spawning, they choose mainly deep-sea sections of rivers where there is a fast current. Such a Far Eastern salmon, such as Chinook salmon, uses rather specific places for spawning. This can be a place before the rift, which has sufficient depth, and before the rapid flow of water, especially in the upper reaches of the rivers in Kamchatka.
During spawning, Far Eastern salmon can also enter lakes with sand and pebble soil with a well-defined under-stream. Pink salmon and chum salmon breed in shallow tributaries or in the upper reaches of the rivers, choosing sections downstream.
Spawning features
During migration to places of spawning, this fish does not feed. It exists solely due to the reserve accumulated in the muscles, therefore it is extremely depleted on the way.
During spawning, Far Eastern salmon digs in fertilized eggs in the ground, and therefore lays it in places where the bottom is not silted, but covered with pebbles or gravel. The female, surrounded by one or several males, holds her head against the tide, scattering soil with strong tail movements. After spawning, there is a massive death of salmon. The most depleted individuals die already at the place of spawning, while others are carried by the current, where they die on the road to the mouth.
Often the bottom and river banks are literally covered by dead fish. In the Far East, this phenomenon is called a "snenka". Ravens, seagulls and a very different animal, including a bear, gather for such a plentiful feed.
Pink salmon
This is the largest representative of the Far Eastern salmon. Pink salmon is slightly different from other varieties. For example, on its last fin there are round spots of black color, while the caudal stalk is much thicker. In addition, pink salmon are relatively small in size. This fish rarely grows more than eighty centimeters long, and weighs up to five and a half kilograms.
Chum
In terms of numbers, this representative of the Far Eastern salmon is in the second stage after pink salmon. However, chum salmon is different in that it has no spots in the body color. In addition, the entry into the rivers for spawning practically does not lead to its striking external differences related to the mating season. However, the size of the chum salmon is slightly larger: the length is up to one meter, and the mass is up to fifteen kilograms.
"Noble" look
This most famous salmon - salmon - reaches a length of one and a half meters, and in weight - almost up to forty kilograms. The meat of this fish is appreciated quite high, especially when it is already obese before spawning. This species spends most of its life in the open sea. For example, this salmon in Karelia, where it is found in Onega or Ladoga lakes, can form a separate subspecies. At the same time, in the sea, salmon prefers to stay near the coast.
She has an elongated body with very fine silver scales. The back is usually darker, with a bluish tint. The fins are quite short: the dorsal and caudal fins are gray with a brownish tint, and the rest are light. The head of salmon is somewhat elongated, in the wide mouth there are many strong teeth. Atlantic salmon, or salmon, like all other representatives of the species, has a characteristic adipose fin.
Lenok
This fish is represented by two pronounced forms - blunt and pointed. They differ not only in their appearance, but also in their eating habits. For example, blunt-nosed prefers to feed only on insect larvae, while horned ones prefer rodents.
Far Eastern salmon is common in Siberia and the Far East in lakes and rivers. A lot of it is in Mongolia, as well as in West Korea and China. West of the Urals it is not. Lenok prefers cold, fast rivers, especially their upper reaches.
Large specimens live alone, those smaller are collected in a few flocks. Lenok grows up to six to seven kilograms and ninety centimeters in length.
It is growing at a slow pace. The shape of his body is similar to a whitefish - with small, but dense scales, lumpy in appearance. The color of lenok expresses the living conditions of this fish: on the back and sides a dark brown color with numerous dark spots. The abdomen is light.
When spawning occurs, red dots appear on the lateral parts of the body. Lenok can live up to fifteen years, reaching puberty by the fifth year. This salmon spawns at a depth of one and a half meters in May or June.
Taimen
This subspecies is found in almost all large rivers and lakes in Altai, the Far East and Siberia. Taimen is a predator that grows up to one meter in length and weighs up to sixty kilograms. Among other representatives, this fish from the genus of Far Eastern salmon is a long-liver, lives up to fifty-five years.
Small specimens on the sides have up to ten transverse dark stripes, as well as dark x-shaped spots. During the spawning period, the body of taimen is painted in copper-red color.
This salmon lives exclusively in clean water and is considered an ideal predator. He eats fish, although sometimes he is not averse to eating rats, squirrels, and mice that cross the river.
Taimen is not subject to fishing. He never moves in a pack, living in deep channels or under rifts in pairs or alone. The most catchy habitats of large taimen are the basin of Lake Baikal, the Amur, Yenisei, and Lena rivers. In the mountain rivers of southern Siberia and northern Sayan, large specimens are very rarely caught. Moreover, for many kilometers around such large cities as Yakutsk, Ulan-Ude, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, etc. taimen has not been encountered for a long time. The meat quality of this fish is improving towards the north.
