Aquarium Incubator Project

Every year we adopt 50 Chinook salmon eggs and rear them until they are fry. While they are growing up, we learn about their habitat/environmental needs. We also observe the stages they go through--eyed-egg to alevin to fry. When they are fry, we then release the the fish into the Klamath River to become smolts and then later adults and spawners. We also raise rainbow trout in the spring. They are much smaller than the salmon and develop faster. Parents, teachers, and community members look at our growing fish with us and will stop by to check out their progress! Through this activity we learn concepts as:

CLASS WRITING

SUCCESS WITH OUR
SALMON & TROUT EGGS

This year we are raising both salmon and trout eggs in our classroom aquarium! We have been learning that the salmon are bigger and take longer to develop then trout who are smaller.



These are the eyed salmon eggs that we receive from Irongate Hatchery



We are putting the eggs into the tanks which has an aerator to provide oxygen, spawning gravel about 2-3 inches long, and small pea-sized gravel



A student checking the tank's thermometer-salmon need very cold water (which holds more oxygen) in the range of 45-55 degrees F.

SALMON LIFECYCLE

The stages of a Chinook salmon's life:

Alevin emerging from eyed-eggs

Alevin feeding out of their yolk sacs. The food is absorbed through the vein in the sac

Chinook fry have par marks that help them to hide from predators

Adults will fatten up on the abundant food sources available in the ocean for several years.

Spawning adults brave many obstacles such as rapids, fishermen, and bears on their way back to the rivers. Compared to the number of eggs laid, very few fish return to spawn in their native stream

The salmon has a fascinating life story...It spends its life in the sea, then when it comes time to spawn it is driven by a mysterious urge. It fights almost anything to get back to its spawning stream. I will name a few things it will fight: rapids and strong currents. It will even jump 15 foot water falls if it has to until it is at its spawning grounds.
     People still do not know a lot about all species of the salmon. In the United States of America when we speak of salmon we usually mean any one of 5 species from California up the coast to Alaska and also over to Siberia.
     Some of the species of the salmon we have around here are also in Australia and New Zealand. The five kinds of Pacific salmon come from a family of fish called oncorhynchus a word that means hooked snout. In all of the species of Pacific salmon the males have a hooked snout. The Atlantic salmon are called salmo salar. They are different from Pacific salmon in their type of habitat and in the way they look. The Atlantic salmon are not as common as they were in colonial times. But the ones that remain rank among the finest games of fish .
     Chinook and Sockeye salmon travel from California up to the Gulf of Alaska and back. All together they travel 7,559 miles. Traveling more than 8925 miles, Sockeye salmon travel more than Chinook. Sockeye salmon also travel from California to Alaska and eastward into the Pacific Ocean about 200 miles.

1) Do all salmon die after spawning? Yes. All salmon die after spawning.

2) What is the difference between Pacific and Atlantic salmon? The difference between Pacific salmon and Atlantic salmon is: the Atlantic salmon can spawn more than once. It can spawn up to six or seven times before it dies. The Pacific salmon can only spawn one time then it dies and floats down stream and is counted by fish counters or eaten by some kind of animal.

3) How much do salmon weight? Salmon are usually somewhere between 12 to 125 pounds. The largest salmon recorded was caught in Alaska it was 97 pounds.

4) How do the different types of salmon compare to each other in size and how long do they live?

Chinook salmon are the biggest of them and they live to be 7 years of age.
Silver salmon are second in size and they can live to be 4 years of age.
Chum are third in size and they usually live to be 6 years of age.
Next is sockeye salmon. It lives to be 7 years of age.
Pink salmon is next in size. It lives to be 2 years of age.
Atlantic salmon live to be 8 years of age or even older.

5) How old are salmon when they migrate from the river to the ocean?

The age when salmon migrate to the ocean depends on the type of salmon.
Fall Chinook 3-4 months. Sockeye 6-36 months. Chum 1 week .
Pink 1 week to a month. Spring Chinook 12-24 months.
Atlantic salmon usually take 12-36 months.

6) What do salmon eat? Salmon eat young fish, insects & shrimp. (when they are in the ocean) In the rivers they many eat caddisflies, mayflies, and stoneflies.

7) Do salmon have more than one name? Yes they do.

Chinook salmon are also called king salmon, spring salmon, quinnat, and tyee. Sockeye salmon are also called blue back, or red salmon. Coho are also known as silver, silverback, medium red. Pink salmon are also known as humpback salmon. Chum salmon are also known as keta or dog salmon.