#pacific north

[earthcrumbs]

Lynn Canyon, BC

[rosechata]

mt shuksan, north cascades, washington

[expressions-of-nature]

Sahale Arm, North Cascades National Park by Brian Haagen

[orofeaiel]

Tree Swallow

[mindblowingscience]

Potato-size metallic nodules strewn across the Pacific Ocean seafloor produce oxygen in complete darkness and without any help from living organisms, new research reveals. The discovery of this deep-sea oxygen, dubbed "dark oxygen," is the first time scientists have ever observed oxygen being generated without the involvement of organisms and challenges what we know about the emergence of life on Earth, researchers say.

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[orendarling]

Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington

North Cascades

November, 2023

[inatungulates]

Grey whale Eschrichtius robustus

Observed by susannespider, CC BY-NC-ND

[snototter]

The suckers of a giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) in Alaska, USA

by Robin Gwen Agarwal

[pamietniko]

the forest is calling!

Mt. Pilchuck, Washington

[schrodingers-bastard]

Gorge Creek Falls & Gorge Lake

- my favorite part of the cascade loop

[pangeen]

" North Cascades " //© Austin Pedersen

[aimeekb]

I’m a simple person, I see a rock and I climb it

[northameicanblog]

Clipperton Island, French Coral Atoll, Pacific Ocean: Clipperton Island, also known as Clipperton Atoll and previously as Clipperton's Rock, is an 8.9 km² uninhabited French coral atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Wikipedia

[orofeaiel]

North Fork Skokomish River

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Settle In with the Sockeye Salmon

The sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), also known as the red salmon, or the blueback salmon, is one of thirteen species of salmon endemic to the north Pacific Ocean. In their juvenile years they live in the open sea, but as fresh hatchlings and adults they can be found in freshwater rivers and streams. However, the subspecies known as the kokanee salmon are trapped in landlocked lakes and do not migrate as other sockeye salmon do. When migrating, the species can venture well inland to western North America and portions of eastern Asia, including Japan, Russia, and parts of Siberia.

Like most salmon, the sockeye is most famous for its lifecycle. It is an anadromous species, meaning that individuals migrate based on their life state. Newly hatched fry emerge from nests laid in the beds of freshwater systems, and spend their first 1-3 years before moving downstream to the ocean. There, they spend another 4-5 years in schools of up to several hundred, before they reach sexual maturity.

Beginning in July, mature adults begin the great migration back to the area in which they spawned. Once they reach their breeding grounds, males form into strict heirarchical groups and begin to court the available females. Meanwhile, each female digs a shallow nest in the riverbed and lays her eggs. Her chosen male partner-- or several-- lays a cloud of sperm over the eggs. A male may fertilize several nests before he dies; the female perishes soon after. The eggs, laid in clutches of up to 200, take approximately 40 days to hatch, at which point the cycle begins again.

As juveniles living in the ocean, red salmon are somewhat unremarkable. They have long, torpedo-shaped bodies that are generally silvery blue in color, sometimes with dark speckling. Individuals retain this coloring until well into their journy as adults, where males and females begin to significantly diverge. At their peak, adults may be anywhere from 60 to 84 cm (2 ft 0 in – 2 ft 9 in) in length and weigh from 2.3 to 7 kg (5–15 lb), with males being somewhat larger than females. Both males and females also change color; the head turns green, while the body turns bright red, although the color change is more striking in males. Finally, the shape of the male changes drastically, with the mouth becoming more hooked and the body growing a large hump.

Unlike other salmon, both adults and juvenile O. nerka feed throughout their lives. Fry and ocean-bound juveniles feed mainly on copepods and other zooplankton, while migrating adults also consume larger insects and invertebrates. Young blueback salmon are vulnerable to predation from larger fish such as lake trout, squawfish, and mountain whitefish, as well as larger invertebrates and frogs. Individuals living in the ocean are less predated upon, although they can still be caught by larger animals such as seals, sea lions, and sharks. Terminal-stage adults are large, easy targets and are consumed by a range of species; most namely bears and large birds such as gulls and eagles.

Conservation status: The IUCN considers the sockeye salmon to be of Least Concern. However, the species is listed on the United States Endangered Species Act. Populations have declined significantly throughout its range, largly due to overfishing, habitat degredation and the destruction of their breeding grounds.

Photos

NOAA Fisheries

Sergei Gorshkov

Roger Phillips

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

This animal was requested!