Know Your Fish -
Sockeye Salmon
Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus
nerka)
Ocean Phase
Identification Characteristics:
Typical silvery sides common to all Pacific
salmon
Metallic green blue on the back and top of
the head
White or silvery belly
Some fine black speckling may occur on the
back, but large spots are absent
Almost toothless
Spawning Phase Identification
Characteristics:
Males, back and sides are bright red to dirty
red-gray, head is bright to olive green, tail is green to
black
Females, colors not as bright, but red above
lateral line
Males develop a large dorsal hump
Males develop typical hooked snout and large
canine-like teeth
Identification
Characteristics:
In spawning males, back and sides are bright
red to dirty red-gray, head is bright to olive green, tail is
green to black
Spawning males have a large dorsal
hump
In spawning females, colors not as bright,
but red above lateral line
NO distinct spots on back or tail
fin
Records:
Range in length from 20 to 28 inches
Freshwater record: 10.62 lbs, Gary Krasselt,
Lake Washington, King Co., 7/20/82
Saltwater record: no state record
(yet!)
Sockeye, also called "reds", are one of the most unique
of the Pacific Salmon in that they require a lake for part of
their lifecycle. When they are young, they spend anywhere from
a few months to a couple of years in their lake. Sockeye can
sometimes be found spawning on the shores of the same lake
where they spent their younger years. They almost always spawn
in a body of water that is somehow connected to a lake, be it
a stream or the lake shore itself.
In the spring
sockeye fingerlings leave their lake rearing areas and migrate
downstream to the ocean. They travel quickly thousands of
miles to the Gulf of Alaska and the North Pacific where they
feed voraciously. In their third year in the ocean they begin
sexual development, and between this time and their sixth year
they begin their journey back to their natal rivers. Mature
four-year-old sockeye average about 5 pounds and the older
fish can reach weights in excess of 10 pounds.
Sockeye
are considered by many to be the best-eating of all salmon,
but anglers catch relatively few of them on hook-and-line.
They are also historically one of the most commercially
valuable fish because of their high oil content and their
ability to hold their red color in the can. The state's most
notable sport fishery on sockeyes occurs in Lake Wenatchee and
some years in Lake Washington. A fishery on Fraser River
stocks is growing in the San Juan Islands.
Sockeye
salmon are sleek and silvery with a blue-black color on the
top of the head and silvery white jaws. Sockeye salmon turn a
bright red on their body and olive-green on the head as they
begin to enter the spawning phase of their life cycle. Like
the pink salmon, males develop a prominent hump in front of
the dorsal fin. Also the male's snout becomes elongated and
canine-like teeth grow out of the receding gums. The females
undergo a similar distinct color change but retain their sleek
body shape.
For more information about Washington
State's game fish you can download these PDF files: Pacific
salmon identification (1446KB), trout and salmon
identification (560KB), and selected game fish (2553KB). To
read these files you will need the free Adobe Acrobat PDF
Reader that you can obtain from Adobe's PDF Reader web
page.
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