Hey Freak!

What do salmon do when they're out in the ocean?

No, it's not a joke. I really would like to know. You always hear about how salmon find the river where they were born and then swim upstream to spawn and then die... but you never hear about what they do when they're out in the ocean, maturing. Like, you never see or hear about them as either predator or prey on them Discovery Channel-like shows.

So, I'm asking you. What do salmon do when they're out in the ocean? Do you know?

Or, at the very least, have you wondered?

Swim??

On some levels I'm perhaps hurt that you didn't ask me directly :-p

Note: this is just my recollection from various field trips (went to lots of salmon hatcheries), bio classes, and working for Oregon Fish & Wildlife. It was painstakingly double checked on wikipedia. It's possible that there are some errors.

The salmon swim around. They search for food a lot. I *think* they eat zooplankton, little fish, etc -- they're carnivorous. They need to eat some zooplankton to get their pink color (farm raised fish is often dyed).

Salmon go into the ocean b/c food is much more bountiful there than in stream headwaters. Streams are nice places and all . . . but not big enough nor populated with enough food to raise big, fat, healthy fish.

Near the end of their stay in the ocean, they start to undergo physical changes that allow them to go back into the stream, go up, and spawn. They have to pack on TONS of fat, since they stop eating once they reach the fresh water. They actually start to decompose in the fresh water as they're swimming upstream (seriously -- near the spawning sites, it's not unusual to see salmon that look like zombie salmon. I have some pictures if you'd like to see them).

Anyway, I think that answers your questions. Mostly, the salmon swim around, eat, and try to avoid predators. Seals, some whales, maybe sharks will go after salmon. Bigger fish (maybe lingcod? Not sure about the depth differences -- I don't know how deep salmon swim. Lingcod is a fairly deep water fish, as in deep in the water right off the coast. Maybe 40-80 m down) could take the smaller salmon.

Let me know if you want to know more. I can actually, yanno, go look in some books.

Salmon are the no good drug dealers of the fish kingdom. They'll be seen in the ocean, hanging out in shifty locations, peddling their crap to the smaller fish. Never trust a salmon. They'd kill you as soon as look at you.

Another quick detail I remembered:

Headwater streams honestly don't have tons of nutrients. They're nice and clear and have enough stuff for little insects and whatnot to get by, but they're not chock full of stuff. Everything washes down to the ocean, yanno. The returning salmon are super important for bringing nutrients back up into the headwaters. You can test where nutrients come from by measuring the isotopes -- marine Nitrogen is heavier (I think) than that around freshwater streams. When testing birds and trees around the streams, it's been found that the marine nutrients are a big part of the biomass. And the nutrients spread pretty far through the forest, indicating that birds/bears/etc pick up salmon carcasses and carry them to other locations.

Anyway, just another little tidbit

Wow. . .hmmm. . .no, I've never wondered that. I've often wondered why salmon is really the only fish that tastes even a little bit good though.

I hear they're ravers... big on the drug scene and some are big whores that suck on candy ring pops and wear superman undies over their clothes.

Kathy, you don't know the half of it. They *created* that whole culture, AND are the biggest victims of it. The whole sick thing has taken on a life of it's own, all the while those fucking salmon are sitting back and laughing their scaley little asses off at our expense.

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