Cyber Salmon

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All Alaskan salmon hatch in fresh water, migrate to the sea, then eventually return to where they hatched to spawn and die. Salmon occupy many fresh water and marine habitats throughout their lives. All of these habitats must be protected in order to ensure the continued health of the species.

Chinook Salmon Habitats

Chum Salmon Habitats

Coho Salmon Habitats

Pink Salmon Habitats

Sockeye Salmon Habitats

Spawning Habitat:
Chinook salmon reach their spawning areas between July and September each year. They choose to spawn in streams that are shallow, clear, and cold with a strong upwelling of water through the gravel. The female digs a redd, consisting of several pits, and deposits her eggs in the stream gravels.

Fry Habitat:
Alaskan Chinook salmon live in streams for at least a year before migrating to the sea. While in streams, Chinook salmon fry are found primarily along the sides of pools and near the cover of over-hanging banks. As the fish grow, they increase their distance from cover and tend to occupy greater water depths and velocities where they can find shelter from the current.

Juvenile Chinook salmon occupy different stream habitats in the fall and winter. The fry move out of faster water and congregate at undercut banks where dense vegetation drapes into the water. Chinook fry tend to hide among large stream cobbles during periods of cold temperatures. This is thought to be a way to avoid predators, reduce physical damage from ice scouring, and prevent downstream displacement.

Smolt Habitat:
Once they reach the sea, Chinook salmon smolts remain in an estuary for a short time before moving farther offshore.

Ocean Habitat:
Alaskan Chinook salmon remain at sea between 3 and 5 years. Some of these fish may remain close inshore throughout their lives, but most undertake extensive migrations. Fish from California and British Columbia reach the outer waters of southeastern Alaska. Others from Alaskan streams go even farther, entering the Gulf of Alaska and moving extensively across the northern Pacific. In the spring of the year they scatter across the northern Pacific and the Bering Sea. In the summer their numbers increase in the area of the Aleutian Islands and in the western Gulf of Alaska.

Spawning Habitat:
Chum salmon typically spawn in coastal rivers. Only the Yukon River in North America and the Amur River in Russia have chum populations that are long-distance travelers. Summer chum salmon spawn in shallow, clear, cold tributaries of the lower Yukon River. Fall chum salmon select spawning streams in the upper Yukon River drainage with springs or groundwater seepages. The female digs a redd, consisting of several pits, and deposits her eggs in the stream gravels.

Chum salmon alevin remain in the gravel until the yolk sac is absorbed, 60-90 days after hatching. They then make their way up through the gravel and begin migration to the sea.

Smolt Habitat
Once in the sea, chum salmon smolts remain in river estuaries for several months, then move into the open ocean in the fall and winter of their first year.

Ocean habitat
Most Alaskan chum salmon stay at sea for 2 to 5 years. They occupy the Chukchi and Bering Seas, disperse west along the Aleutian chain, and south into the Gulf of Alaska. The fish feed near the water's surface at night, and range down as far as 60 meters during the day.

Spawning Habitat:
Most coho salmon spawn in streams along the coast, but there are exceptions. Some coho salmon migrate a considerable distance into Interior rivers to spawn. Coho salmon in the Yukon River drainage have been found spawning near Old Crow on the Porcupine River- almost 2,000 miles from the sea.

Most spawning streams are narrow and shallow with a gravel bottom. Coho salmon also seem to favor streams with an upwelling of ground water. The female digs a redd, consisting of several pits, and deposits her eggs in the stream gravels.

Fry Habitat:
Alaskan coho salmon live in streams for at least a year before migrating to the sea. The small fish choose quiet backwaters and side channels with overhanging vegetation when they first emerge from the redd. As they grow, coho salmon fry move into more open, higher velocity water. Streams with a complex structure of boulders, logs, and brush in the water can support the most coho salmon fry. The small fish defend these territories aggressively.

Juvenile coho salmon occupy different stream habitats in the fall and winter. The fry move out of faster water into side channels and streams with deeper pools, and undercut banks where dense vegetation drapes into the water.

Smolt Habitat:
Coho salmon smolts usually begin to form small schools and migrate to the ocean in mid to late May. The fish remain in the near shore areas near the mouth of their home streams for several months before migrating further out to sea.

Ocean Habitat:
Most coho salmon spend 2 to 3 years in saltwater. Some fish migrate only a short distance into good feeding areas, and stay there; others travel extensively. Coho salmon from California to British Columbia tend to travel north and spend the summer along the central Alaskan coast. Most Alaskan fish travel a counter clockwise path following the currents in the north Pacific Ocean. As ocean temperatures increase in summer, the fish move north throughout the north Pacific Ocean and into the Bering Sea. Most of these fish winter well south of the Gulf of Alaska.

Spawning Habitat:
Pink salmon may spawn anytime from June to late September depending on location and distance from salt water. Most populations spawn in coastal streams, some even in lower tidal areas. However, some pink salmon travel over 136 miles up the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers. The female prepares a redd in the gravel of a shallow, clear, cold stream, and deposits between 800 – 2,000 eggs that are fertilized by the male.

Fry Habitat: Pink salmon fry emerge from the stream gravel in April or early May and almost immediately begin to move downstream to the sea. Fish that hatch in coastal streams might arrive in an estuary in a single day. Fish from farther inland hide in stream gravels during the day and travel downstream at night.

Smolt Habitat
Pink salmon smolts remain in estuaries and tidal creeks for several months feeding on plankton and larval tunicates. They gradually move into deeper, saltier water, but remain near shore.

Ocean Habitat
Pink salmon spend 18 months in salt water. Adult Alaskan pink salmon can be found in most of the northeast Pacific ranging from the Bering Sea, out the Aleutian chain, and as far south as the California coast.

Spawning Habitat:
The largest sockeye populations are in the Fraser River system in Canada, and in the Kvichak, Naknek, Ugashik, Egegik, and Nushagak Rivers that flow into Alaska’s Bristol Bay. Adult sockeyes return to spawn between July and October. Spawning occurs almost exclusively in lakes or streams that connect to lakes. The female most often selects a redd site in an area of the stream with fine gravels. She deposits between 2,500 to 4,300 eggs in 3 to 5 redds that are fertilized by the male. Spawning can take place over three to five days.

Fry Habitat
Hatching occurs from mid-winter to early spring, and fry emerge from the gravel between April and June. After emerging from the stream gravel, the fry swim upstream or downstream to a lake. They live there for one to two (or rarely three or four years) before migrating to the sea. Initially, the fry stay in the shallow water near the lake shore, but gradually move into deeper water. While in the lakes, they feed on aquatic insects and plankton.

Smolt Habitat
Peak migration from lakes to the ocean occurs in June in Bristol Bay. Once in the sea, sockeye salmon smolts stay close to shore initially, but gradually move into deeper water. Their food consists of zooplankton, insects and small fish.

Ocean Habitat
Most Alaskan sockeye salmon spend two or three years in the ocean. Sockeye salmon from south of the Alaska Peninsula move into and follow a counter-clockwise current called the Alaska Gyre in the Gulf of Alaska. Sockeyes from Bristol Bay move west along the north side of the Alaska Peninsula, then turn south through Aleutian passes into the Gulf. Most sockeyes spend the summer in a broad band across the western Pacific Ocean south of the Aleutian chain which is an important feeding area. The following winter, the fish split into immature populations and those that will mature and spawn the following year. Younger fish head south into the Gulf of Alaska again, and maturing fish stay north of 50 degrees north latitude.