The Sockeye salmon

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Sockeye salmon
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Image of animal

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General Information;

Type: Fish
Diet: Omnivore
Size: Up to 33 in (84 cm)
Weight: 5 to 15 lbs (2.3 to 7 kg)
Conservation status:

Scientific Classification: Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Chordata, Class: Actinopterygii, Subclass: Neopterygii, Infraclass: Teleostei, Order: Salmoniformes, Family: Salmonidae, Genus: Oncorhynchus
Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:

# Sockeye salmon Range


Sockeye salmon, also called red salmon or blueback salmon in the USA, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Northern Pacific Ocean and rivers discharging into it.There are also completely landlocked populations of the same species, which are known as kokanee or "silver trout". Sockeye salmon is the third most common Pacific salmon species, after pink and chum salmon. The name "sockeye" is an anglicization of suk-kegh, its name in Halkomelem, the language of the indigenous people along the lower reaches of the Fraser River (one of British Columbia's many native Coast Salish languages). Suk-kegh means red fish.
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Physical Features;
The sockeye, also called red or blueback salmon, is among the smaller of the seven Pacific salmon species, but their succulent, bright-orange meat is prized above all others. They range in size from 24 to 33 inches (60 to 84 centimeters) in length and weigh between 5 and 15 pounds (2.3 to 7 kilograms). Sea-going sockeyes have silver flanks with black speckles and a bluish top, giving them their "blueback" name. However, as they return upriver to their spawning grounds, their bodies turn bright red and their heads take on a greenish color.
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Mental Features;
Like all other Pacific salmon, they are born in fresh water. However, sockeye require a lake nearby to rear in. Once hatched, juvenile sockeyes will stay in their natal habitat for up to three years, more than any other salmon. They then journey out to sea, where they grow rapidly, feeding mainly on zooplankton. They stay in the ocean for one to four years.
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Diet;
Sockeye salmon, unlike other species of Pacific Salmon, feed extensively on zooplankton during both freshwater and saltwater life stages. Their numerous gill rakers strain the plankton from the water. This diet may be the reason for the striking hue of their flesh, as well as their very low concentration of methylmercury. They also tend to feed on small aquatic organisms such as shrimp. Insects are part their diet at the juvenile stage.
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Habitat;
Sockeye salmon ranges as far south as the Columbia River in the eastern Pacific (though individuals have been spotted as far south as the 10 Mile River on the Mendocino Coast of California) and northern Hokkaidō Island in Japan in the western Pacific, and as far north as Bathurst Inlet in the Canadian Arctic in the east and the Anadyr River in Siberia in the west.
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Credits (c);

Images:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/taylar/6171711454/

Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockeye_salmon
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/sockeye-salmon/?source=A-to-Z
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