COHO SALMON LIFE CYCLE

The coho salmon life cycle starts when the salmon are eggs. In about a few weeks the salmon start to hatch one by one. The salmon life cycle takes a while. STAGE ONE: The coho salmon are eggs,and later we saw them in their eggs and watched them wiggle and move side to side. STAGE TWO: They hatch with their yolk sac to feed on for the next few weeks. STAGE THREE: There yolk sacs disappeared and when the yolk sac disappeared one that had two heads died. STAGE FOUR: When we got back from winter break they had changed colors and they have stripes on their back they change colors because the light  reflects off the glass on the tank. STAGE FIVE: this stage is about the coho salmon now 1/28/15 they look like actual full grown salmon but very little.

                                                                      Salmon Stripes

                                    When we arrived at school after Winter break we were in for a big surprise! The salmon grew up! Most of them have lost their egg sacs. They look like they have zebra print on them, but not with the same colors.There are streaks of black and small dots on their body and their bodies are silver.These lines and dots covering their side are called Parr Marks. The salmon's Parr Marks help camouflage them. You can faintly see their fins. They've been swimming up to the top and sometimes they look like their climbing up the sides. Their growing up so fast!

NO FINS

There is a fish in the tank with no fins. The no fin fish tries to swim around like the others ,but just swims in circles. He doesn't have control over his swimming. He keeps swimming awkwardly. The no fin fish doesn't swim  to the top right now he is probably thinking'  ¨no fair you swim better than me.¨'He does flips and swims on his sides. Maybe he will grow out his fins someday.

Smoked Salmon

The salmon are just growing and growing. One of them has one fin missing on the right side but he's still hanging in and swimming. The tank is 49.5 degrees fahrenheit on the digital thermometer. On the mercury thermometer it reads 49.0 degrees fahrenheit. On average, they are 2 and a half inches. They are mostly on the right side of the tank in a school. There is only ten or fifteen of them away from the school on the left side of the tank. We think this is because the bubbler is on the left side of the tank and there is some sort of current. Two have died and have dried up outside of the tank. One of the dried fish's eyes fell out of it's head. It has been about 2 weeks since we have started feeding the fish. Some of them have more spots than others.

Growing Up

Our salmon have changed greatly since we got them. Their sides have gone from clear to silver/green with stripes. They are also much more active. Their yolk sacks are getting smaller. They have also grown longer.  They used to be more active when it's light, but now, they are more active when it's dark.
One fish in particular has built up strength so that it can almost swim to the top of the tank. We even witnessed that one swam to the top and stuck his head out of the water. Our hypothesis is that this fish was getting air to fill his swim bladder. They are acting more like older salmon by beginning to form schools.  We've observed how they collect in the corners of the tank.

Why do the salmon huddle in the corners of the tank?

                                           Why do the salmon huddle in the corners of the tank?

                                   Maybe it is because they don't like all the loud noises that people make.

                                    Or is it because they want to keep warm and trying to

                                    sleep. 

  

                                    Their yolk sacs are their main source of food while they are 

                                    still young. It weighs them down when they try to swim to the top

                                    of the tank. It also gets smaller as they grow. One of the salmon 

                                    only has a drop of yolk in the sac.

   

    

Racing Salmon

                              3,2,1 go! The salmon line up in the corner as if they're getting ready for a race. They crash into each other like bumper carts. They are swimming up bouncing off the walls then floating back down. The Salmon look like galloping horses. It looks like they're scared of us because we are much bigger and louder. They also look like there trying to escape. Who will win the race?!