Salmon is the common name for several species of the family Salmonidae Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish, the only living family currently placed in the order Salmoniformes. It includes salmon, trout, chars, freshwater whitefishes and graylings. The Atlantic salmon and trout of genus Salmo give the family and order their names. Several other fish A fish is any aquatic vertebrate animal that is covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins. Most fish are "cold-blooded", or ectothermic, allowing their body temperatures to vary as ambient temperatures change. Fish are abundant in most bodies of water. They can be found in nearly all aquatic in the family are called trout Trout is the name for number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the Salmonidae family. Salmon belong to some of the same genera as trout but, unlike most trout, most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water. Trout are classifed as an oily fish; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, a distinction that holds true for the Salmo Salmo is a genus of fish in the salmon family that includes the familiar species Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and brown trout (Salmo trutta). The natural distribution of the genus is chiefly European. Only the range of the Atlantic salmon extends to northern North America. The salmons and trouts of the Pacific basin belong to another genus, genus. Salmon live along the coasts of both the North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106,400,000 square kilometres , it covers approximately twenty percent of the Earth's surface and about twenty-six percent of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek mythology, making the Atlantic the " (one migratory species Salmo salar Atlantic salmon, known scientifically as Salmo salar, is a species of fish in the family Salmonidae, which is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and in rivers that flow into the north Atlantic and the north Pacific) and Pacific Oceans The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east (approximately a dozen species of the genus Oncorhynchus Oncorhynchus is a genus of fish in the family Salmonidae; it contains the Pacific salmons and Pacific trouts. The name of the genus is derived from the Greek onkos and rynchos ("nose"), in reference to the hooked jaws of males in the mating season (the "kype")), as well as having been introduced into the Great Lakes The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater seas located in eastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron , Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface and volume. The total surface is 208,610 km2 (80,545 sq mi), and the total volume of North America.

Typically, salmon are anadromous Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annual, and over distances ranging from a few meters to thousands of kilometers. Fish usually migrate because of diet or reproductive needs, although in some cases the reason for migration remains unknown: they are born in fresh water Freshwater or fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Freshwater is characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term specifically excludes seawater and, migrate to the ocean An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface (~3.61 X 1014 m2) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas, then return to fresh water to reproduce Reproduction is the biological process by which new "offspring" individual organisms are produced from their "parents". Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all known life; each individual organism exists as the result of reproduction. The known methods of reproduction are broadly grouped into two main types: sexual and. However, there are populations of several species that are restricted to fresh water through their life. Folklore Folklore consists of culture, including stories, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions of that culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The academic and usually has it that the fish return to the exact spot where they were born to spawn; tracking studies have shown this to be true but the nature of how this memory works has long been debated. Salmon are intensively produced in aquaculture in many parts of the world.

Contents

Life cycle

Eggs in different stages of development. In some only a few cells grow on top of the yolk An egg yolk is a part of an egg which feeds the developing embryo. The egg yolk is suspended in the egg white by one or two spiral bands of tissue called the chalazae. Prior to fertilization, the yolk together with the germinal disc is a single cell; one of the few single cells that can be seen by the naked eye. If the egg is fetilized by a male, in the lower right the blood vessels The blood vessels are the part of the circulatory system that transport blood throughout the body. There are three major types of blood vessels: the arteries, which carry the blood away from the heart; the capillaries, which enable the actual exchange of water and chemicals between the blood and the tissues; and the veins, which carry blood from surround the yolk An egg yolk is a part of an egg which feeds the developing embryo. The egg yolk is suspended in the egg white by one or two spiral bands of tissue called the chalazae. Prior to fertilization, the yolk together with the germinal disc is a single cell; one of the few single cells that can be seen by the naked eye. If the egg is fetilized by a male and in the upper left the black eyes are visible, even the little lens Salmon fry hatching — the baby has grown around the remains of the yolk — visible are the arteries Arteries are red blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart. This blood is normally oxygenated, exceptions made for the pulmonary and umbilical arteries spinning around the yolk and little oildrops, also the gut, the spine, the main caudal blood vessel, the bladder and the arcs of the gills

Salmon eggs are laid in freshwater streams typically at high latitudes. The eggs hatch into alevin or sac fry. The fry quickly develop into parr with camouflaging vertical stripes. The parr stay for 6 months to three years in their natal stream before becoming smolts, which are distinguished by their bright silvery colour with scales that are easily rubbed off. It is estimated that only 10% of all salmon eggs survive to this stage.[1] The smolt body chemistry changes, allowing them to live in salt water. Smolts spend a portion of their out-migration time in brackish water, where their body chemistry becomes accustomed to osmoregulation Osmoregulation is the active regulation of the osmotic pressure of an organism's fluids to maintain the homeostasis of the organism's water content; that is it keeps the organism's fluids from becoming too diluted or too concentrated. Osmotic pressure is a measure of the tendency of water to move into one solution from another by osmosis. The in the ocean.

The salmon spend about one to five years (depending on the species) in the open ocean where they become sexually mature. The adult salmon return primarily to their natal stream to spawn. In Alaska Alaska was purchased from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million at about two cents per acre . The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized territory on May 11, 1912, and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959, the crossing-over to other streams allows salmon to populate new streams, such as those that emerge as a glacier A glacier is a perennial mass of ice which moves over land. A glacier forms in locations where the mass accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation over many years. The word glacier comes from French via the Vulgar Latin glacia, and ultimately from Latin glacies meaning ice. The corresponding area of study is called glaciology retreats. The precise method salmon use to navigate has not been established, though their keen sense of smell is involved. Atlantic salmon spend between one and four years at sea. (When a fish returns after just one year's sea feeding it is called a grilse in the UK The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land and Ireland.) Prior to spawning, depending on the species In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are often used, such as based on similarity of DNA or, salmon undergo changes. They may grow a hump, develop canine teeth, develop a kype (a pronounced curvature of the jaws in male salmon). All will change from the silvery blue of a fresh run fish from the sea to a darker color. Salmon can make amazing journeys, sometimes moving hundreds of miles upstream against strong currents and rapids to reproduce. Chinook and sockeye salmon from central Idaho, for example, travel over 900 miles (1,400 km) and climb nearly 7,000 feet (2,100 m) from the Pacific ocean as they return to spawn. Condition tends to deteriorate the longer the fish remain in fresh water, and they then deteriorate further after they spawn, when they are known as kelts. In all species of Pacific salmon, the mature individuals die within a few days or weeks of spawning, a trait known as semelparity. Between 2% and 4% of Atlantic salmon kelts survive to spawn again, all females. However, even in those species of salmon that may survive to spawn more than once (iteroparity), post-spawning mortality is quite high (perhaps as high as 40 to 50%.)

To lay her roe Roe or hard roe is the fully ripe internal ovaries or egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, such as shrimp, scallop, and sea urchins. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooked ingredient in many dishes and as a raw ingredient, the female salmon uses her tail (caudal fin), to create a low-pressure zone, lifting gravel to be swept downstream, excavating a shallow depression, called a redd. The redd may sometimes contain 5,000 eggs covering 30 square feet (2.8 m2).[2] The eggs usually range from orange to red. One or more males will approach the female in her redd, depositing his sperm, or milt, over the roe.[3] The female then covers the eggs by disturbing the gravel at the upstream edge of the depression before moving on to make another redd. The female will make as many as 7 redds before her supply of eggs is exhausted.[3]

male ocean phase Chinook male freshwater phase Chinook

Each year, the fish experiences a period of rapid growth, often in summer, and one of slower growth, normally in winter. This results in rings (annuli) analogous to the growth rings visible in a tree trunk. Freshwater growth shows as densely crowded rings, sea growth as widely spaced rings; spawning is marked by significant erosion as body mass is converted into eggs and milt.

Freshwater streams and estuaries provide important habitat for many salmon species. They feed on terrestrial Insects are a class within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax, and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae. They are among the most diverse group of animals on the planet and include more than a million described species and represent more than half of all known living and aquatic insects Aquatic insects live some portion of their life cycle in the water. They feed in the same ways as other insects. Some diving insects, such as predatory diving beetles, can hunt for food underwater where land-living insects cannot compete, amphipods Amphipoda are an order of animals that includes over 7,000 described species of shrimp-like crustaceans ranging from 1 mm to 140 mm in length. "Amphipod" means "feet [poda] on both sides [amphi]", in Greek, and other crustaceans Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at 0.1 mm (0.004 in), to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span of up to 14 ft (4.3 m) and a mass while young, and primarily on other fish when older. Eggs are laid in deeper water with larger gravel, and need cool water and good water flow (to supply oxygen) to the developing embryos. Mortality of salmon in the early life stages is usually high due to natural predation and human-induced changes in habitat, such as siltation, high water temperatures, low oxygen concentration, loss of stream cover, and reductions in river flow. Estuaries An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea and their associations wetlands A wetland is an area of land which soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water. Wetlands include swamps, marshes, and bogs, among others. The water found in wetlands can be saltwater, freshwater, or brackish. The world's largest wetland is the provide vital nursery areas for the salmon prior to their departure to the open ocean. Wetlands not only help buffer the estuary from silt and pollutants, but also provide important feeding and hiding areas.

Species

The various species of salmon have many names, and varying behaviors.

Atlantic Ocean species

Atlantic salmon

The Atlantic ocean has only one species of salmon, in the genus Salmo Salmo is a genus of fish in the salmon family that includes the familiar species Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and brown trout (Salmo trutta). The natural distribution of the genus is chiefly European. Only the range of the Atlantic salmon extends to northern North America. The salmons and trouts of the Pacific basin belong to another genus,:

Pacific Ocean species

Pacific species belong to the genus Oncorhynchus Oncorhynchus is a genus of fish in the family Salmonidae; it contains the Pacific salmons and Pacific trouts. The name of the genus is derived from the Greek onkos and rynchos ("nose"), in reference to the hooked jaws of males in the mating season (the "kype"), some examples include;

Male ocean phase Coho salmon

Other species

Salmon fisheries

Spawning sockeye salmon in Becharof Creek, Becharof Wilderness, Alaska

The salmon has long been at the heart of the culture and livelihood of coastal dwellers. Many people of the Northern Pacific shore had a ceremony to honor the first return of the year. For many centuries, people caught salmon as they swam upriver to spawn. A famous spearfishing site on the Columbia River at Celilo Falls was inundated after great dams were built on the river. The Ainu, of northern Japan, trained dogs to catch salmon as they returned to their breeding grounds en masse. Now, salmon are caught in bays and near shore.

Salmon population levels are of concern in the Atlantic and in some parts of the Pacific but in Alaska stocks are still abundant. Fish farming of Pacific salmon is outlawed in the United States Exclusive Economic Zone,[10] however, there is a substantial network of publicly funded hatcheries,[11] and the State of Alaska's fisheries management system is viewed as a leader in the management of wild fish stocks. Some of the most important Alaskan salmon sustainable wild fisheries are located near the Kenai River, Copper River, and in Bristol Bay. In Canada, returning Skeena River wild salmon support commercial, subsistence and recreational fisheries, as well as the area's diverse wildlife on the coast and around communities hundreds of miles inland in the watershed. The status of wild salmon in Washington is mixed. Out of 435 wild stocks of salmon and steelhead, only 187 of them were classified as healthy; 113 had an unknown status, 1 was extinct, 12 were in critical condition and 122 were experiencing depressed populations.[12] The Columbia River salmon population is now less than 3% of what it was when Lewis and Clark arrived at the river.[13] The commercial salmon fisheries in California have been either severely curtailed or closed completely in recent years, due to critically low returns on the Klamath and or Sacramento Rivers, causing millions of dollars in losses to commercial fishermen.[14] Both Atlantic and Pacific salmon are popular sportfish.

Aquaculture

Salmon farm in the archipelago of Finland. Main article: Salmon in aquaculture

Salmon aquaculture is the major economic contributor to the world production of farmed fin-fish, representing over U$1 billion annually. Other commonly cultured fish species include: tilapia, catfish, sea bass, carp, bream, and trout. Salmon farming is very big in Chile, Norway, Scotland, Canada and the Faroe Islands, and is the source for most salmon consumed in America and Europe. Atlantic salmon are also, in very small volumes, farmed in Russia and the island of Tasmania, Australia.

Salmon are carnivorous and are currently fed a meal produced from catching other wild fish and other marine organisms. Salmon farming leads to a high demand for wild forage fish. Salmon require large nutritional intakes of protein, and consequently, farmed salmon consume more fish than they generate as a final product. To produce one pound of farmed salmon, products from several pounds of wild fish are fed to them. As the salmon farming industry expands, it requires more wild forage fish for feed, at a time when seventy five percent of the worlds monitored fisheries are already near to or have exceeded their maximum sustainable yield.[15] The industrial scale extraction of wild forage fish for salmon farming then impacts the survivability of the wild predator fish who rely on them for food.

Work continues on substituting vegetable proteins for animal proteins in the salmon diet. Unfortunately though, this substitution results in lower levels of the highly valued Omega-3 content in the farmed product.

Intensive salmon farming now uses open-net cages which have low production costs but have the drawback of allowing disease and sea lice to spread to local wild salmon stocks.[16]

On a dry-dry basis, it takes 2–4 kg of wild caught fish to produce one kg of salmon.[17]

Artificially-incubated chum salmon

Another form of salmon production, which is safer but less controllable, is to raise salmon in hatcheries until they are old enough to become independent. They are then released into rivers, often in an attempt to increase the salmon population. This system is referred to as ranching and was very common in countries like Sweden before the Norwegians developed salmon farming, but is seldom done by private companies, as anyone may catch the salmon when they return to spawn, limiting a company's chances of benefiting financially from their investment. Because of this, the method has mainly been used by various public authorities and non profit groups like the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association as a way of artificially increasing salmon populations in situations where they have declined due to overharvest, construction of dams, and habitat destruction or fragmentation. Unfortunately, there can be negative consequences to this sort of population manipulation, including genetic "dilution" of the wild stocks, and many jurisdictions are now beginning to discourage supplemental fish planting in favour of harvest controls and habitat improvement and protection. A variant method of fish stocking, called ocean ranching, is under development in Alaska. There, the young salmon are released into the ocean far from any wild salmon streams. When it is time for them to spawn, they return to where they were released where fishermen can then catch them.

An alternative method to hatcheries is to use spawning channels. These are artificial streams, usually parallel to an existing stream with concrete or rip-rap sides and gravel bottoms. Water from the adjacent stream is piped into the top of the channel, sometimes via a header pond to settle out sediment. Spawning success is often much better in channels than in adjacent streams due to the control of floods which in some years can wash out the natural redds. Because of the lack of floods, spawning channels must sometimes be cleaned out to remove accumulated sediment. The same floods which destroy natural redds also clean them out. Spawning channels preserve the natural selection of natural streams as there is no temptation, as in hatcheries, to use prophylactic chemicals to control diseases.

Farm raised salmon are fed the carotenoids astaxanthin and canthaxanthin, so that their flesh color matches wild salmon.[18]

Diseases and parasites

See also: Fish diseases and parasites Henneguya salminicola, a myxozoan parasite commonly found in the flesh of salmonids on the West Coast of Canada. Coho salmon

According to Canadian biologist Dorothy Kieser, myxozoan parasite Henneguya salminicola is commonly found in the flesh of salmonids. It has been recorded in the field samples of salmon returning to the Queen Charlotte Islands. The fish responds by walling off the parasitic infection into a number of cysts that contain milky fluid. This fluid is an accumulation of a large number of parasites.

Henneguya and other parasites in the myxosporean group have a complex lifecycle where the salmon is one of two hosts. The fish releases the spores after spawning. In the Henneguya case, the spores enter a second host, most likely an invertebrate, in the spawning stream. When juvenile salmon out-migrate to the Pacific Ocean, the second host releases a stage infective to salmon. The parasite is then carried in the salmon until the next spawning cycle. The myxosporean parasite that causes whirling disease in trout, has a similar lifecycle.[19] However, as opposed to whirling disease, the Henneguya infestation does not appear to cause disease in the host salmon — even heavily infected fish tend to return to spawn successfully.

According to Dr. Kieser, a lot of work on Henneguya salminicola was done by scientists at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo in the mid-1980s, in particular, an overview report[20] which states that "the fish that have the longest fresh water residence time as juveniles have the most noticeable infections. Hence in order of prevalence coho are most infected followed by sockeye, chinook, chum and pink." As well, the report says that, at the time the studies were conducted, stocks from the middle and upper reaches of large river systems in British Columbia such as Fraser, Skeena, Nass and from mainland coastal streams in the southern half of B.C. "are more likely to have a low prevalence of infection." The report also states "It should be stressed that Henneguya, economically deleterious though it is, is harmless from the view of public health. It is strictly a fish parasite that cannot live in or affect warm blooded animals, including man".

According to Klaus Schallie, Molluscan Shellfish Program Specialist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, "Henneguya salminicola is found in southern B.C. also and in all species of salmon. I have previously examined smoked chum salmon sides that were riddled with cysts and some sockeye runs in Barkley Sound (southern B.C., west coast of Vancouver Island) are noted for their high incidence of infestation."

Sea lice, particularly Lepeophtheirus salmonis and various Caligus species, including Caligus clemensi and Caligus rogercresseyi, can cause deadly infestations of both farm-grown and wild salmon.[21][22] Sea lice are ectoparasites which feed on mucous, blood, skin, and muscle tissue, and normally latch onto the skin of wild salmon in the open ocean during free-swimming, planktonic naupli and copepodid larval stages, each of which can persist for several days. Large numbers of highly populated, open-net salmon farms can create exceptionally large concentrations of sea lice; when exposed in river estuaries containing large numbers of open-net farms, many young wild salmon are infected, and do not survive as a result. On the Pacific coast of Canada, the louse-induced mortality of pink salmon in such affected areas is commonly over 80%.[23] Adult salmon may survive small numbers of sea lice which would be critical to young salmon, but small, thin-skinned juvenile salmon migrating to sea are highly vulnerable.

Environmental pressures

All species of Pacific Salmon die shortly after spawning. This one was photographed at a spawning site along Eagle Creek in Oregon.

The population of wild salmon declined markedly in recent decades, especially north Atlantic populations which spawn in the waters of western Europe and eastern Canada, and wild salmon in the Snake and Columbia River system in northwestern United States. The decline is attributed to the following factors:

There are efforts to relieve this situation. As such, several governments and NGOs are sharing in research and habitat restoration efforts.

Results overall are showing that estuary problems exist for some rivers, but issues involving feeding grounds at sea are impacting populations as well. In 2008 returns were markedly improved for Atlantic salmon on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, but no one knows if this is a temporary improvement or sign of a trend.

Salmon and beavers

Beavers are archetypal ecosystem engineers; in the process of clearcutting and damming, beavers alter their ecosystem extensively. Beaver ponds can provide critical habitat for juvenile salmon. An example of this was seen in the years following 1818 in the Columbia River Basin. In 1818, the British government made an agreement with the U.S. government to allow U.S. citizens access to the Columbia catchment (see Treaty of 1818). At the time, the Hudson's Bay Company sent word to trappers to extirpate all furbearers from the area in an effort to make the area less attractive to U.S. fur traders. In response to the elimination of beavers from large parts of the river system, salmon runs plummeted, even in the absence of many of the factors usually associated with the demise of salmon runs. Salmon recruitment can be affected by beavers' dams because dams can:[32][33][34]

Beavers' dams are able to nurture salmon juveniles in Estuarine tidal marshes where the salinity is less than 10ppm. Beavers build small dams of generally less than 2 feet (0.61 m) high in channels in the Myrtle zone. These dams can be overtopped at high tide and hold water at low tide. This provides refuges for juvenile salmon so they don't have to swim into large channels where they are subject to predation.[35]

Salmon as food

Édouard Manet: Still Life with Salmon

Salmon is a popular food. Classified as an "oily fish",[36] salmon is considered to be healthy due to the fish's high protein, high Omega-3 fatty acids, and high vitamin D[37] content. Salmon is also a source of cholesterol, with a range of 23–214 mg/100g depending on the species.[38] According to reports in the journal Science, however, farmed salmon may contain high levels of dioxins. PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) levels may be up to eight times higher in farmed salmon than in wild salmon.[39] Omega-3 content may also be lower than in wild caught specimens, and in a different proportion to what is found naturally. Omega-3 comes in three types, ALA, DHA and EPA; wild salmon has traditionally been an important source of DHA and EPA, which are important for brain function and structure, among other things. This means if the farmed salmon is fed on a meal which is partially grain, then the amount of omega-3 it contains will be present as ALA (alpha-linolenic acid).[citation needed] The body can itself convert ALA omega-3 into DHA and EPA, but at a very inefficient rate (2–15%). Nonetheless, according to a 2006 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the benefits of eating even farmed salmon still outweigh any risks imposed by contaminants.[40] The type of omega-3 present may not be a factor for other important health functions.

A simple rule of thumb is that the vast majority of Atlantic salmon available on the world market are farmed (greater than 99%), whereas the majority of Pacific salmon are wild-caught (greater than 80%). Farmed Atlantic salmon outnumber wild Atlantic salmon 85-to-1.[41]

Raw salmon sashimi

Salmon flesh is generally orange to red, although there are some examples of white fleshed wild salmon. The natural colour of salmon results from carotenoid pigments, largely astaxanthin but also canthaxanthin, in the flesh.[42] Wild salmon get these carotenoids from eating krill and other tiny shellfish. Because consumers have shown a reluctance to purchase white-fleshed salmon, astaxanthin (E161j), and very minutely canthaxanthin (E161g), are added as artificial colorants to the feed of farmed salmon, because prepared diets do not naturally contain these pigments. In most cases, the astaxanthin is made chemically; alternatively it is extracted from shrimp flour. Another possibility is the use of dried red yeast, which provides the same pigment. However, synthetic mixtures are the least expensive option. Astaxanthin is a potent antioxidant that stimulates the development of healthy fish nervous systems and enhances the fish's fertility and growth rate. Research has revealed canthaxanthin may have negative effects on the human eye, accumulating in the retina at high levels of consumption.[42] Today, the concentration of carotenoids (mainly canthaxanthin and astaxanthin) exceeds 8 mg/kg of flesh, and all fish producers try to reach a level that represents a value of 16 on the "Roche Color Card", a colour card used to show how pink the fish will appear at specific doses. This scale is specific for measuring the pink colour due to astaxanthin and is not for the orange hue obtained with canthaxanthin. The development of processing and storage operations, which can be detrimental on canthaxanthin flesh concentration, has led to an increased quantity of pigments added to the diet to compensate for the degrading effects of the processing. In wild fish, carotenoid levels of up to 25 mg are present, but levels of canthaxanthin are, in contrast, minor.[42]

Canned salmon in the U.S. is usually wild Pacific catch, though some farmed salmon is available in canned form. Smoked salmon is another popular preparation method, and can either be hot or cold smoked. Lox can refer either to cold smoked salmon or to salmon cured in a brine solution (also called gravlax). Traditional canned salmon includes some skin (which is harmless) and bone (which adds calcium). Skinless and boneless canned salmon is also available.

Raw salmon flesh may contain Anisakis nematodes, marine parasites that cause Anisakiasis. Before the availability of refrigeration, the Japanese did not consume raw salmon. Salmon and salmon roe have only recently come into use in making sashimi (raw fish) and sushi.

Filet of an Atlantic Salmon

Poached salmon

Smoked salmon

Salad with ham and smoked salmon

Salmon in marinade

Grilled salmon

Salmon for sale

Salmon roe (still in the skin) at the Shiogama seafood market in Japan

Salmon in mythology

The salmon is an important creature in several strands of Celtic mythology and poetry, which often associated them with wisdom and venerability. In Irish mythology, a creature called the Salmon of Wisdom (or the Salmon of Knowledge)[43] plays key role in the tale known as The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn. The Salmon will grant powers of knowledge to whoever eats it, and has been sought by the poet Finn Eces for seven years. Finally Finn Eces catches the fish and gives it to his young pupil, Fionn mac Cumhaill, to prepare it for him. However, Fionn burns his thumb on the salmon's juices, and he instinctively puts it in his mouth. As such, he inadvertently gains the Salmon's wisdom. Elsewhere in Irish mythology, the salmon is also one of the incarnations of both Tuan mac Cairill[44] and Fintan mac Bóchra.[45]

Salmon also figure into Welsh mythology. In the prose tale Culhwch and Olwen, the Salmon of Llyn Llyw is the oldest animal in Britain, and the only creature who knows the location of Mabon ap Modron. After speaking to a string of other ancient animals who do not know his whereabouts, King Arthur's men Cai and Bedwyr are led to the Salmon of Llyn Llyw, who lets them ride its back to the walls of Mabon's prison in Gloucester.[citation needed]

In Norse mythology, after Loki tricked the blind god Höðr into killing his brother Baldr, Loki jumped into a river and transformed himself into a salmon in order to escape punishment from the other gods. When they held out a net to trap him he attempted to leap over it but was caught by Thor who grabbed him by the tail with his hand, and this is why the salmon's tail is tapered.[citation needed]

Salmon are central to Native American mythology on the Pacific coast, from the Haida to the Nootka.[citation needed]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ "A Salmon's Life: An Incredible Journey". U.S. Bureau of Land Management. http://www.blm.gov/education/00_resources/articles/Columbia_river_basin/posterback.html. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
  2. ^ McGrath, Susan. "Spawning Hope". Audubon Society. http://www.audubonmagazine.org/features0309/hope.html. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
  3. ^ a b c "Pacific Salmon, (Oncorhynchus spp.)". U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services. http://www.fws.gov/species/species_accounts/bio_salm.html. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
  4. ^ "Formosan salmon". Taiwan Journal. http://taiwanjournal.nat.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=10710&CtNode=122. Retrieved 2006-12-13.
  5. ^ "Chinook Salmon". Alaska Department of Fish and Game. http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/notebook/fish/chinook.php. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
  6. ^ a b c http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/321160.pdf
  7. ^ "Chum Salmon". Alaska Department of Fish and Game. http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/notebook/fish/chum.php. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
  8. ^ "Pink Salmon". Alaska Department of Fish and Game. http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/notebook/fish/pink.php. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
  9. ^ "Sockeye Salmon". Alaska Department of Fish and Game. http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/notebook/fish/sockeye.php. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
  10. ^ http://aprn.org/2007/12/24/new-research-raises-concern-over-effects-of-farmed-salmon-on-wild-stocks/ New research raises concern over effects of farmed salmon on wild stocks
  11. ^ http://media.aprn.org/2008/ann-20080922.mp3|low fish returns in Southeast this summer have been tough on the region’s hatcheries
  12. ^ (Johnson et al. 1997)
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Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Salmonidae
Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Salmon
Principal commercial fishery species groups
Wild
Large pelagic fish Mackerel · Salmon · Shark · Swordfish · Tuna (yellowfin, bigeye, bluefin, albacore and skipjack)
Forage fish Anchovy · Capelin · Herring · Hilsa · Menhaden · Sardines · Shad
Demersal fish Catfish · Cod (Atlantic, Pacific) · Flatfish (flounder, halibut, plaice, sole and turbot) · Haddock · Mullet · Orange roughy · Pollock · Smelt-whitings · Toothfish
Freshwater fish Carp · Sturgeon · Tilapia · Trout
Other wild fish Eel · Whitebait · more...
Crustaceans Crab · Krill · Lobster · Shrimp · more...
Molluscs Abalone · Mussels · Octopus · Oysters · Scallops · Squid · more...
Echinoderms Sea cucumbers · Sea urchin · more...
Farmed Carp (bighead, common, crucian, grass, silver) · Catfish · Freshwater prawns · Mussels · Oysters · Salmon (Atlantic, salmon trout, coho, chinook) · Tilapia · Shrimp
Commercial fishing · World fish production · Fishing topics · Fisheries glossary

Categories: Salmon | Salmonidae | Alaskan cuisine | Commercial fish | Oily fish | Cat Food

 

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'Salmon' News
Edmonds Port Report: King salmon season underway - My Edmonds News (registration)
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Edmonds Port Report: King salmon season underway - My Edmonds News (registration)
Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:19:32 GMT+00:00
season underway My Edmonds News (registration) The King salmon season opened last Friday in both of the marine areas bordering the Port. Our public launchers and dry storage launchers ...
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carrots grape tomtoes garlic powder sesame seeds and cayenne And a salmon salad made with Wild Alaskan salmon burger onion bell pepper and the same seasonings as the seaweed salad Wrapped up in collard

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'Salmon' Blogs
Disgruntled Salmon Kings captain leaves team
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Disgruntled Salmon Kings captain leaves team

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ue, 20 Jul 2010 06:02:09 GM

Current sports news in hockey, baseball, tennis, football, basketball and golf. Check scores, schedules, blog and newsletters of your favorite sports. Find latest sports news from Times Colonist.,Goldi​e was to have 'C' removed.

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'Salmon' Answers
Is it natural for cooked salmon to have white stuff on it's edges?
Q. The package says sell by 22 jan. I left it in the fridge till today(25th). After frying it on the pan slowly with butter, it has thick white stuff on the edges. I am not sure if this is normal and safe to eat. I am waiting for an answer. Save my salmon dinner! Thanks!
Asked by S A - Sat Jan 26 23:25:55 2008 - - 9 Answers - 1 Comments

A. The white stuff is fat.
Answered by starr - Sat Jan 26 23:34:01 2008

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