CHINOOK SALMON

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CHINOOK SALMON
Oncorhynchus tshawytacha (Walbaum). Other names for this Pacific salmon include springs, kings, or tyee when they are more than 30 pounds. The top half of the back (including the dorsal fin and both lobes of the tail fin) is heavily marked with irregular black spots and gums in the lower jaw are black. At spawning time, their backs are dark, with the sides being pink to dark reddish in colour. The male snout is elongated and strongly hooked. The adult fish average 15-20 pounds, but fish of 65 pounds have been taken in the Yukon River or its tributaries. The young spend their first year in freshwater lakes or quiet backwaters of the mainstem Yukon before migrating downstream as smolts. They arrive back as 4-7 year old fish ready to spawn.