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Know
Your Fish - Chum Salmon
 Chum Salmon (Oncorhynchus
keta)
Ocean
Phase Identification Characteristics:
Typical silvery sides common to all Pacific salmon
Metallic green or blue dorsal surface
Some black speckling may be present on the dorsal
surface
White tips on the ventral and anal fins
Faint indications of a vertical bar pattern may be
visible
Absence of large black spots on the body or caudal
fins
Large scales
Lower gum line is black
Spawning Phase
Identification
Characteristics:
Body color typically olive or gray with maroon and black
vertical bars
Males develop typical hooked snout and very large
teeth
Actively spawning females and subdominant males can
display a horizontal black stripe in place of the vertical bar
pattern
Vertical pattern of bars along the sides
Dark or black ventral surfaces
White tips on the ventral and anal fins
Distinct dark vertical bars along the sides
No distinct black spots on back or caudal fins
Males are dark blue above with reddish-purple vertical
markings and well developed teeth
Females less colorful, often with horizontal bar along
sides
Lower gum line is black
Records:
Range in length from 30 to 42 inches
Freshwater record: 27.97 lbs, Johnny Wilson, Satsop River,
Grays Harbor Co., 10/19/92
Saltwater record: 25.26 lbs, Fred Dockendorf, Pacific
Ocean, out of Grays Harbor, Grays Harbor Co.,
8/7/01
The chum salmon's nickname "dog salmon" is not deserved,
especially when you consider its fighting ability. It's a
tough customer for both salt and freshwater anglers. Chum are
the second-largest of the Pacific salmon, and Washington
anglers catch many of them in the high-teens and low-20-pound
range. They are the last of the salmon to return each fall,
usually arriving at their natal stream from November to
January.
Chum salmon have the widest distribution of
any of the Pacific salmon. They range south to the Sacramento
River in California and the island of Kyushu in the Sea of
Japan. In the north they range east in the Arctic Ocean to the
Mackenzie River in Canada and west to the Lena River in
Siberia.
The chum's spawning grounds are usually in the
lower tributaries along the coast and are seldom more than 100
miles inland. The eggs are deposited from December to
February. The fry emerge in the spring and migrate to ocean
with no hold-over residence in their spawning grounds. In
their third or fourth year the chum reaches maturity, weighing
from 8 to 18 pounds.
Chum salmon are difficult to
distinguish from sockeye and coho without a careful
examination of their gills or caudal fin scale patterns.
During the spawning phase, both males and females develop
hooked noses and large canine-like teeth (one of the reasons
for the "dog salmon" nickname), although the male's
characteristics are much more pronounced. They also have
distinct dark vertical bars along their sides.
Chum do
not have a period of freshwater residence after emergence of
the fry as do chinook, coho, and sockeye salmon. Chums are
similar to pink salmon in this respect, except that chum fry
do not move out into the ocean in the spring as quickly as
pink fry. Chum fry feed on small insects in the stream and
estuary before forming into schools in salt water where their
diet usually consists of zooplankton.
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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