Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery

FUN FISH FACTS

Former SCEP student holding a coho salmon.
USFWS

Pacific Salmon live to spawn one time—after that, they die. In contrast, steelhead can migrate to and from the ocean and spawn more than once.
Chinook salmon are also known as "Tyee" or "King" salmon
The largest Chinook salmon on record was caught in Alaska and weighed 126 pounds.
Fish secrete mucus, slime coating, to protect it against parasites & disease, cover wounds & prevent infection, and to move faster through the water.
The gravel nest that a female salmon creates with her tail is called a "redd."
The shape of a redd creates a natural baffle that causes upwelling water currents, bringing oxygen to eggs.
A female Chinook salmon can lay up to 7,000 eggs.
10% to 20% of fertilized wild eggs survive through early life stages in the wild, 80% to 100% in a hatchery.
Salmon eggs come with their own self-contained food source, their yolk.
The mottled coloring of fry matches their stream environment, camouflaging them from predators.
Fish don't have ears. They hear or feel vibrations along the lateral line of their bodies.
As fingerlings mature into smolts, their bodies turn a shiny silver color that provides better camouflage in the open ocean.
Smolts migrate downstream tail first. Scientists are not sure why, but one theory is that oxygen rich water can more easily flow into the gills of the fish; or maybe salmon orient themselves based on their natural instinct to swim upstream.
In saltwater, fish drink constantly and rarely urinate. In fresh water, fish rarely drink and urinate constantly. This maintains the salt balance in their bodies.
After reaching the ocean, a salmon can double its weight in just one summer.
Over 20 species of animals, such as bears and eagles, eat spawned-out salmon carcasses; the carcasses bring ocean nutrients and minerals to the terrestrial world, thus nourishing the watershed.
Fossils show that fish existed over 400 million years ago.
Only about 1% of all Earth’s water is fresh water.
Scientists can tell how old a fish is by reading the growth rings on the fish scales (almost just like tree rings).
A person who studies fish is called an ichthyologist.
Steelhead and rainbow trout are the same species, but rainbow trout are freshwater fish only, while steelhead are anadromous, meaning they go out to sea for part of their lives.
Salmon have teeth on the roof of their mouth, tongue, jaws and throat. These help prevent prey from escaping.