Salmon swim upstream to mate and lay their eggs for several reasons. Laying their eggs in small rivers and shallow waters help protect them from larger fish that would happily eat them as a snack in the ocean. The shallow streams and rivers also provide shelter for the eggs so they don’t get washed away by heavy currents.
Where do salmon swim?
Salmon and other fish swim upstream because it is part of their reproductive life cycle. Salmon are born in freshwater rivers, spend most of their lives in the ocean and then return to the place they were born to lay their own eggs. Do salmon swim up or downstream? The short answer to this is “to spawn”.
Young salmon learn the smell of their home stream, possibly even memorizing it at various points along the way, as they migrate toward the ocean. As adults returning to freshwater, when they encounter that familiar smell, it stimulates them to swim upstream. So there may be some “testing of the waters” as salmon migrate home.
Can you catch salmon in the ocean?
While you can catch most species of salmon in the ocean, the easiest time of year to catch them is when they congregate in bays and in rivers. The high concentration of large fish tempts fishermen every year to try their hand at trolling for salmon as well as bead fishing for salmon.
Do salmon migrate back to the ocean?
Every year some salmon do survive to come back to the ocean, however. Most experts approximate 5 to 10% of salmon successfully migrate back to the ocean after spawning. There are 5 main types of salmon that swim upstream to spawn.
What kind of salmon swim upstream?
Pink salmon are another common species of salmon that swims upstream, and only grow to be 5 lbs in weight. Each year huge schools swim upriver in the pacific northwest every other year to spawn. Author Note: Pink salmon are also called humpback salmon due to the physical changes the males go through when spawning.
It usually only takes salmon a few weeks to travel from the ocean all the way upstream to where they spawn. Sometimes this can be over 2 miles from the ocean! They wait until the first big rain in late September or October, then swim upstream when the rivers are high.
How do salmon survive in streams?
Salmon enter fast-flowing freshwater systems and swim up their natal rivers to find a suitable spawning location. The rivers’ running water and habitat provide both plenty of oxygen and shelter for the eggs and juvenile salmon, which increases their rate of survival.