God I Love Fish Facts

God i love fish facts

Fish of the Day

Today's fish of the day is a bit different from normal, instead of focusing on a particular species of genus we will be focusing on landlocked salmon today by special request of Topi!

(Atlantic Salmon)

Landlocked salmon are notable due to the inherent nature of the salmon life cycle, where salmon hatch in a freshwater stream, migrate to the ocean until they achieve sexual maturity, and then travel back to the same stream they hatched from. However, landlocked salmon are unable to migrate and spend their life cycles entirely in freshwater. The three main landlocked salmon would be The Kokanee salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), which are a subspecies of sockeye salmon, the Formosan landlocked salmon (Oncorhynchus masou formosanus), which is a subspecies of masu salmon, and finally the several populations of landlocked Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).

(Formosan landlocked salmon)

Landlocked salmon hold almost no differences to their sea run relatives, other than that which speciation provides. Almost always landlocked salmon are far smaller. Considering that salmon are mid level carnivores, whose diet shifts based on age, freshwater prey is just simply less available than marine prey is. Salmon fry survive off of zooplankton, which is available in large amounts in freshwater, but as they grow into juveniles who eat worms and larvae, but by the time they are of age to transition to the marine environment, they rely on larger prey, such as other fish or squid. This is why landlocked salmon are far smaller, and often considered a far blander flavor by fishers.

(Atlantic salmon)

Another difference between the anadromous (migratory) fish and the non migratory is based on the migration pathways themselves. Landlocked salmon species tend to spend their lives within lakes, as they tend to offer more large prey than rivers do, and when after reaching the end of their lifecycle, these fish tend to run rivers connected to lakes, searching for the same stream they were born in. Those salmon of which were transported or by some means found themselves the first generation of landlocked salmon tend to search only for a safe area, other salmon, and higher elevations during their migration. Of those salmon landlocked only in lakes with no connection to other bodies of water there is significant inbreeding, and disease often tends to kill these populations out. It is thought that salmon of which are acclimated to freshwater and intentionally landlocked have a higher chance of surviving after spawning season, as some salmon species possess the ability to survive the spawning, and return to the ocean for another year. This is something that is not fully understood, and currently being researched by many of the fish hatcheries along the Columbia river, major rivers in California, and along the Atlantic. We may understand the relation between the stresses of moving from saltwater to freshwater better in the future!

(kokanee salmon)

To focus on the landlocked variations of Atlantic salmon for a moment, these are individual populations caught in the many lakes or river systems along the Eastern coast of the United States and Canada. These fish in particular are known as some of the best for fishing in the areas they live in. These fish can be found in a range from the Atlantic coast all the way as Western as Lake Eerie in some cases, living in cold water conditions, with growth being the highest at temperatures of 67-77 degrees fahrenheit, and a diet that is mostly made up of insects and small fish, often cannibalizing other young landlocked salmon.

(Atlantic landlocked Salmon)

The kokanee salmon is found along the Pacific coast, in many different lakes from Alaska to California, and as far East as Idaho, and in some rare cases, Nevada. There are also populations within lakes in Japan and Russia, although there is debate on the subject of speciation for these populations. Although some populations of kaknee have been intentionally introduced across lakes and freshwater systems much further East in the United States. Thes fish can get as large as 8-20 inches, and have a handful of morphological differences between them and sockeyes. Kokanee have a higher number of gill rakers, smaller egg size, and a higher efficiency rate in taking in red coloring from food sources to distribute in their eggs. They can live a lifespan around 4 years before spawning and passing away, as these fish do not survive after breeding, and can not interbreed with sockeye salmon.

(kokanee salmon)

The Formosan landlocked salmon, also called the Cherry salmon, is found in Taiwan. Living in the Lishan mountain range, these fish survive in cold water at extremely high altitudes, with an upper temperature limit of 60 degrees. These fish are thought to have become landlocked by the warming of the Dajia River during the last ice age. They live along the many small creeks and backwater streams, with an extremely endangered population with only around 4,000 living at any given time. Cherry salmon are exceptionally small, reaching only 30cm (around a foot) with most around only 6 inches in their adult life. Subsisting off of bugs and small terrestrial life that gets close to the water. These fish survive only around 4 to 5 years before breeding in higher colder waters, and passing away for their fry to replace them.

(Formosan landlocked salmon)

Those are the landlocked Salmon everybody! Have a wonderful day