Salmon reproduction cycle

Question 1

How long do Salmons spend in the open ocean?

Answer 1

1-5

Question 2

Where do salmon return to aftrer spending 1-5 years in the ocean?

Answer 2

the freshwater stream they were born in to spawn

Question 3

How do adult salmon change ones they enter freshwater?

Answer 3

They change color, stop eating, males develop a kype

Question 4

What is a kype?

Answer 4

A hooked jaw

Question 5

What obsticals do adult salmon face during their return migration?

Answer 5

Dams, waterfalls, culverts, low water, pollution, sediment, and predators

Question 6

What are spawning beds created for?

Answer 6

To deposit fertilized eggs in the gravel

Question 7

What are spawning beds also known as?

Answer 7

Redds

Question 8

When do salmon species spawn?

Answer 8

In the fall or winter, regardless of when they enter the river

Question 9

Where are redds typically constructed?

Answer 9

in clean gravel with good flow of clean water, otherwise the eggs would suffocate and die.

Question 10

What sized rocks are salmon eggs deposited and covered with?

Answer 10

2-4 inches

Question 11

How long to salmon eggs stay in the gravel for before hatching?

Answer 11

2-3 months

Question 12

What happens during the 2-3 months before salmon eggs hatch?

Answer 12

they develop into embryos, and the baby salmon’s eyes can be clearly seen

Question 13

How man eggs do female salmon deposit?

Answer 13

between 2500-7000 eggs

Question 14

What are young salmon known as?

Answer 14

alevin

Question 15

What happens after young salmon hatch from the egg?

Answer 15

they remain in the gravel and feed off the yolk sac still attached to their bodies.

Question 16

How long do Alevins remain in the gravel?

Answer 16

1-2 months

Question 17

What happens after 1-2 months of the alevins being in the gravel?

Answer 17

they swim up from the gravel to live and hunt in the stream.

Question 18

What are young free swimming salmon known as?

Answer 18

A fry

Question 19

How long are fry?

Answer 19

1-2 inches

Question 20

How are fry washed down a stream?

Answer 20

In large numbers

Question 21

What do fry feed on?

Answer 21

invertebrates

Question 22

What is a parr?

Answer 22

A young salmon typically between 2-5 inches that are not yet smolts

Question 23

Why are young salmon called parr?

Answer 23

Due to the vertical bars (parr marks) along their bodies

Question 24

When do the parr marks disappear?

Answer 24

As the salmon matures into a smolt

Question 25

How are different species of salmon distinguished?

Answer 25

by the patter of parr marks

Question 26

When do salmon become smolts?

Answer 26

When salmon prepare to migrate from freshwater to the ocean

Question 27

What happens when smolts lose their parr marks?

Answer 27

Their body becomes silvery in color

Question 28

Why do smolts become a silvery color?

Answer 28

to change camouflage from a stream to the open ocean

Question 29

Where do slamon smolts spend time before heading to the ocean?

Answer 29

in estuaries

Question 30

Where do salmon spend more than 80% of their lives?

Answer 30

in the ocean

Question 31

How long do salmon spend in the ocean?

Answer 31

1-5 years in the ocean, depending on species and environmental conditions

Question 32

What happens after salmons finish spawning?

Answer 32

They die

Question 33

How will a salmon’s death bring life?

Answer 33

The carcasses feed many organisms including insects some of which in turn provide food for the young salmon

Question 34

What do the carcasses of a dead salmon bring?

Answer 34

nutrients from the ocean that benefit the stream and riverbank vegetation