- sockeye salmon
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/sok"uy'/an important food fish, Oncorhynchus nerka, inhabiting the North Pacific. Also called blueback salmon, red salmon, sockeye.[1865-70; sockeye, alter. (by folk etym.) of Halkomelem (Mainland dial.) sthaqay']
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or red salmonFood fish (Oncorhynchus nerka) of the North Pacific that constitutes almost 20% of the commercial fishery of Pacific salmon.It weighs about 6 lbs (3 kg) and lacks distinct spots on the body. It ranges from the northern Bering Sea to Japan and from Alaska to California. Sockeyes may migrate more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) upriver to spawn in lakes or tributary streams. The young remain in freshwater one to five years. The kokanee is a small, nonmigratory, freshwater subspecies.Male sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in spawning phaseJeff FoottBruce Coleman Inc.* * *
▪ fishalso called blueback salmon or red salmonNorth Pacific food fish of the family Salmonidae that lacks distinct spots on the body. It weighs about 3 kg (6.6 pounds); however, some specimens may weigh as much as 7.7 kg (17 pounds). Sockeye salmon range from the northern Bering Sea to Japan and from Alaska southward to California. The sockeye can migrate more than 1,600 km (1,000 miles) upriver to spawn in lakes or tributary streams, the young remaining in fresh water for as long as three years. In North America the sockeye is caught on the Columbia and Fraser rivers. The kokanee (O. nerka kennerlyi) is a small, nonmigratory, freshwater form of sockeye. See also salmon.* * *
Universalium. 2010.