Trivia question for Aug-08-2011

Carter doesn’t know a lot about fish but tried anyway with these guys for his trivia.  Lets see how he does.  These guys begin and end their life in freshwater, but grows to maturity in the Pacific Ocean. Commercial fishermen net this species using seines and gillnets for fresh or frozen filet sales and canning, especially in Bristol Bay, Alaska, site of the largest harvest, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Canners prefer it due to its rich orange-red flesh. More than half of the catch is sold frozen.

The range of these fish reach 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. Landlocked populations occur in the Yukon Territory and British Columbia in Canada, and in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, New York, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming in the United States. Nantahala Lake is the only spot in North Carolina where these fish are found.

So here are Carter’s questions: Tell us what this fish is and where its strange name comes from?  Also, tell us what the three major threats are that these guys face which are causing their numbers to dramatically decline?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations to Meredith Pennino from Palm Harbor, Florida for being the first to answer all the questions to yesterday’s trivia correctly.   The fish we featured is the Sockeye Salmon.  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.

The name “sockeye” is an anglicization of suk-kegh (sθə́qəy̓), its name in Halkomelem, the language of the indigenous people along the lower reaches of the Fraser River (British Columbia’s native Coast Salish language). Suk-kegh means red fish.

Industrial development, fish farms, and headwater contamination all effect the Sockeye’s conservation status.  At sea, commercial fishing takes a huge toll on salmon.  Dams and pollution from mining, forestry and agriculture pose a greater threat, because they reduce freshwater habitat.  Numbers are in slow decline, despite conservation efforts.  Here is more on these hearty fish: Sockeye Salmon

Thanks for playing along 😉