Stage 1 of the Chinook Salmon is eggs. The eggs are orange with a black dot in the middle like your eye. When they are laid they spawned in a redd. They usually hatch in the spring. The eggs get fertilized by the male salmon.
Stage 2: Alevin
This next stage is the Alevin. The Alevin salmon are 1 inch long in length. During the next month the Alevin will remain hidden int he gravel nest and feed from the yolk sack until it is completely absorbed.
Stage 3: Fry
Next up is the Fry. At this stage salmon leave there nests and begin to feed themselves anything they can find but bugs are there favorite. It's about time they begin there journey downstream. The fry must hide under rocks, and among vegetation to avoid predators.
Stage 4: Parr
The Parr is the stage after the Fry. The Parr is now about 1 year old and continues living and eating while starting to migrate up and downstream. They need to eat a lot now because in 3-4 years they will start to depart out to sea in schools and will need a lot of food to survive the trip.
Stage 5: Smolt
Finally the time has come to depart out to sea. The trip is dangerous and will require almost no delays because they only have so much energy in there body. By now they have gotten there spots and now range in length from 65-120 mm.
Stage 6: Adult
Now mature adults. These Chinook salmon have finished there 1 in a lifetime journey and now are living around 200 miles out in the ocean. While out here they are close to the top of the food chain. Only dessert to killer whales and sharks. They feast on smaller fish amphipods and crustaceans.
Stage 7: Spawning Adult
The spawning adult is the final stage of the life cycle. It is the stage where the salmon return to the same place they were born and lay 700 hundred orangish eggs that have a black eye right in the center. Once the female salmon is done laying her eggs she dies.
No comments:
Post a Comment