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salmon

  (săm'ən) pronunciation
n., pl. salmon or -ons.
  1. Any of various large food and game fishes of the genera Salmo and Oncorhynchus, of northern waters, having delicate pinkish flesh and characteristically swimming from salt to fresh water to spawn.
  2. A moderate, light, or strong yellowish pink to a moderate reddish orange or light orange.

[Middle English samoun, from Old French saumon, from Latin salmō, salmōn-.]


 
 

Fish of a number of species including Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), and chinook, chum, coho (or silver), pink (or humpback), and sockeye (or red), which are varieties of Oncorhynchus and in the UK must be described as red or pink salmon. Although wild salmon are caught on a large scale, most of the salmon available in Europe is farmed in deep inlets of the sea, especially in Scotland and Norway.

A 150-g portion is an exceptionally rich source of vitamin B12, a rich source of protein, niacin, vitamin B6, copper, and selenium; a good source of vitamin B1; a source of vitamin B2 and folate; contains 160 mg of sodium and 20 g of fat, of which 20% is saturated and 50% is mono-unsaturated; supplies 300 kcal (1260 kJ). Pacific salmon may be a source of vitamin A and a rich source of vitamin D; canned salmon, in which the softened bones are edible, is also a source of calcium.

 

[SAM-uhn] Salmon was an important food to many early American Indians whose superstitions prevented certain tribe members from handling or eating the fish lest they anger its spirit and cause it to leave their waters forever. Salmon are anadromous, meaning that they migrate from their saltwater habitat to spawn in fresh water. Over the years, some salmon have become landlocked in freshwater lakes. In general, the flesh of those salmon is less flavorful than that of their sea-running relatives. There is an increasing volume of aquacultured salmon being imported into the United States today-most of it from Norway, although Chile's salmon farming industry is now giving the Norwegians some competition. Although farmed salmon are raised in salt water, their flesh doesn't have the same rich nuances in flavor and texture as that of their wild relations. There are several varieties of North American salmon. All but one are found off the Pacific coast, and about 90 percent come from Alaskan waters. Among the best Pacific salmon is the superior Chinook or king salmon, which can reach up to 120 pounds. The color of its high-fat, soft-textured flesh ranges from off-white to bright red. Other high-fat salmon include the coho or silver salmon, with its firm-textured, pink to red-orange flesh, and the sockeye or red salmon (highly prized for canning) with its firm, deep red flesh. Not as fatty as the preceding species are the pink or humpback salmon-the smallest, most delicately flavored of the Pacific varieties-and the chum or dog salmon, which is distinguished by having the lightest color and lowest fat content. Pacific salmon are in season from spring through fall. The population of the once-abundant Atlantic salmon has diminished greatly over the years because of industrial pollution of both North American and European tributaries. The Atlantic salmon has a high-fat flesh that's pink and succulent. Canada provides most of the Atlantic salmon, which is in season from summer to early winter. Depending on the variety, salmon is sold whole or in fillets or steaks. It's also available canned and as smoked salmon which comes in a variety of styles. The increasingly popular bright red salmon roe (see caviar) is readily available in most supermarkets. Fresh salmon is integral to some of the world's most famous dishes, including gravlax and coulibiac. It can be served as a main course, in salads, as a spread or dip . . . Its uses are myriad. All salmon are high in protein as well as a rich source of vitamin A, the B-group vitamins and Omega-3 oils. See also fish.

 

Name that originally referred to the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and now also refers to six species of Pacific salmon (genus Oncorhynchus, family Salmonidae): chum, chinook, pink, and sockeye salmon; coho; and the cherry salmon (O. masu) of Japan. Adult salmon live at sea, then migrate, fighting rapids and leaping high falls, to the stream where they hatched to spawn. Pacific salmon die soon after spawning; many Atlantic salmon live to spawn again. See also trout.

For more information on salmon, visit Britannica.com.

 

[Latin salmō]

The large fish with pinkish flesh (genus Salmo salar) has long played an important role in the Celtic imagination, usually as a repository of otherworldly wisdom, especially in Ireland and Wales. A relief found in Gaul shows a human head between two great salmon. In a Gallo-Roman altar a fish (probably a salmon) is shown talking into the ear of a human head. Nodons, ancient British god of the Severn, is shown hooking a salmon. Although salmon swim from salt to fresh water to spawn, Irish and Welsh traditions often portray them as inhabiting wells, pools, waterfalls, or other fixed locations along important rivers like the Boyne or Severn. Two salmon of wisdom or knowledge lived in Ireland, at Linn Féic along the Boyne and at the falls of Assaroe on the Erne, both caught by Fionn mac Cumhaill. In the better-known story of the two, the bard Finnéces had been fishing for the salmon for seven years when the boy Fionn happened along. Finnéces thought his patience had paid off when he caught the salmon and began cooking it over a fire; but Fionn touched the cooking salmon with his thumb, burning it, and thrust it into his mouth, thus giving to himself the otherworldly wisdom Finnéces sought. Here the salmon bears a name, Fintan (1). When Fionn spears the salmon on his own at the falls of Assaroe it is known as Goll Essa Ruaid [the one-eyed fish of Assaroe]. A comparable Welsh salmon of wisdom swims under the name Llyn Llyw along the Severn and is ‘the oldest of living creatures’, ‘the wisest of forty animals’; it tells Culhwch where Mabon is being held prisoner. Leixlip, Co. Kildare, on the Liffey also has strong associations with salmon [Old Norse leax hlaup, salmon leap; Irish Léim an Bhradáin].

In Irish tradition salmon gain wisdom by eating the nuts of hazel trees; the number of spots on the salmon's back shows how many nuts he has consumed. Nine hazels of wisdom grow at the heads of the seven chief rivers of Ireland and at Connla's Well and the well of Segais. In Osraige [Ossory] salmon eat berries to the same effect. If salmon do not embody wisdom, they may carry important knowledge between persons, just as ravens delivered messages to the Norse Odin. The Welsh poet Dafydd ap Gwilym (fl. 1320–70) claimed that expressions of love for the beautiful Morfydd might be carried by salmon.

Humans and salmon interact in a variety of other ways. Several personages are transformed partly or completely into salmon, including Amairgin (1), Fintan mac Bóchra, and Taliesin, just as Loki in Norse tradition once became a salmon to escape detection. Tuan mac Cairill becomes a salmon that is caught by a woman, who eats him and then gives birth to him again in human form so that he may tell the early history of Ireland. For Mongán, becoming a salmon is just one of his powers. The ‘soul’ of the hero Cú Roí resides in a golden apple inside a certain salmon; to kill him, Cúchulainn has first to kill the salmon with Cú Roí's own sword. The beauteous Lí Ban (2) of Lough Neagh becomes a salmon except for her head. The mother of St Fínán Cam is impregnated by a salmon when she goes swimming after dark. Ailill throws a ring into the water, which is swallowed by a salmon and retrieved by Fráech (folk motif: 736A). St Kentigern also finds a ring in a salmon, which explains the presence of salmon in the seal of the City of Glasgow.

Modern commentators have been at a loss to explain the mythic power of the salmon. Its swimming between salt and fresh water may have suggested the capacity to pass between worlds. The ability to swim against the stream over waterfalls easily excites human admiration; see SALMON LEAP. The Roman poet Catullus (1st cent. BC) equated the leaping salmon with an erect phallus. Pinkish salmon flesh may evoke human flesh. Seán O'Faoláin (1947) suggested that the Irish, lacking serpents, may have adopted the salmon as an alternative transformation of the sun-god. Old Irish eó, eú, éicne, bratán, maigre, magar (as spawn); Modern Irish bradán, diúilín (young salmon); Scottish Gaelic bradan, iasg geal [bright fish]; Manx braddan; Welsh eog, samwn; Cornish ēok; Breton eog.

Bibliography

  • Richard I. Best, ‘The Tragic Death of Cúroí mac Dári’, Ériu, 2 (1911), 18–35
 
(săm'ən) , member of the Salmonidae, a family of marine fish that spawn in freshwater, including the salmons, the trouts, and the chars. Many authorities place the whitefish and the grayling among the Salmonidae, so similar are they in structure and habits. The Salmonidae are the most highly developed of the herringlike fishes, characterized by soft, rayless adipose fins, and are denizens of cold, oxygen-rich waters. In general they are silvery in the sea and more brightly hued in brooks and lakes.

The Salmon Family

There are three genera of Salmonidae: Salmo, Oncorhynchus, and Salvelinus. Unfortunately, the common names of the species do not correspond to the natural divisions. The “true,” or black-spotted, trout is actually a Salmo, and the speckled, or brook, trout of the E United States is a Salvelinus and should more properly be called a char, as similar fishes in Europe are.

The American species of Salmo were originally split by the Mississippi basin, and were represented in the east by the Atlantic salmon and in the west by the rainbow and cutthroat trouts. The Atlantic salmon was a plentiful source of food for the Native Americans and the colonists, but its populations have declined. This salmon is a large fish (15 lb/6.8 kg average) found along the Atlantic coast of NE America, in Greenland, and in Europe. When in the sea it feeds on crustaceans, but as it approaches the the large rivers to spawn, it changes its diet to small fish. A landlocked species, the Sebago salmon, is found in Maine. Of the many races of cutthroat trout, some are now extinct; the greenback trout of the Colorado Rockies was recently rediscovered. The steelhead trout is believed to be the silvery saltwater phase of the colorful rainbow trout. Rainbows and cutthroats are known to hybridize, and a new species, the Gila trout, combining characteristics of both, has been discovered in New Mexico. The brown trout, introduced from Europe in 1883, requires warmer waters than the native species and is important in fish-management programs.

The genus Oncorhynchus is comprised of the five species of Pacific salmon, found from S California to Alaska. These fish are the most important commercial species. Canning centers are located on the Columbia River and on Puget Sound and in British Columbia, Siberia, and N Japan. The largest and commercially most important of the Pacific salmon is the chinook (or quinnat or king) salmon, which averages 20 lb (9 kg) and may reach 100 lb (45 kg). It is found from the Bering Sea to Japan and S California and is marketed fresh, smoked, and canned. The white-fleshed fish of this normally red-fleshed species have become highly prized in the restaurant trade. The blueback salmon (called sockeye in Oregon and redfish in Alaska) has firm reddish flesh and forms the bulk of the canned salmon. Also of economic importance are the humpback, or pink, salmon, the smallest of the group; and the silver, or coho, salmon, important in the fall catch because of its late spawning season. The meat of the dog salmon is palatable when fresh or smoked.

The genus Salvelinus includes the various European chars; the common brook, or speckled, trout, a popular game fish of E North America, introduced in the West; and the Dolly Varden, or bull, trout, a similar western form. A fourth genus, Cristivomer, contains one species, the common lake trout, and one subspecies, the siscowet, or fat trout. These are deepwater fishes of North American lakes, more sluggish, less migratory, and bulkier than the other Salmonidae; individuals have been recorded at 100 lb (45 kg). A fish called the splake has been produced by crossing the speckled trout and the lake trout.

Life Cycle

The basic life pattern of the Salmonidae begins when, within the first year or two of life, the fish travels downstream to the sea, where it grows to its full size. After reaching maturity (one to nine years) it returns to its hatching site to spawn. The Pacific salmon are famed for their grueling journeys of hundreds of miles to their headwater breeding grounds. When they begin this trip they are in prime condition, but they cease eating when they leave the sea and arrive months later, exhausted and battered by their fight upstream against swift currents and over falls. Those that survive the trip and escape fishermen and predatory animals spawn with their last strength and then die. These salmon are taken at the mouths of large rivers, as they begin their upstream migration. The Atlantic salmon and the trouts spawn more than once. Most trouts migrate to the sea if there is a cold-water connection, but also will sometimes live and reproduce if landlocked.

Conservation

Because of such human activities as overfishing, development, dam building, logging, and farm irrigation, Pacific salmon populations have greatly declined, and many species are now listed as rare and endangered. The United States and Canada negotiated a conservation agreement in 1999 that includes setting catch limits based upon ongoing scientific assessments of salmon population levels. In addition, multiple-approach conservation efforts are under way in Washington and Oregon states to restore the salmon runs. For reasons less well understood, and despite international conservation measures, Atlantic salmon populations have also sharply declined. The desirability of salmon as food fish has led to their being raised in aquaculture.

Classification

Salmon are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Osteichthyes, order Clupeiformes, family Salmonidae.

Bibliography

See A. Netboy, The Salmon: Their Fight for Survival (1973).


 

Farmed finfish; many species in the genera Salmo and Oncorhyncus.

  • s. louseLepeophtherius salmonis.
  • s. poisoning, salmon disease — a disease of dogs and other canids which eat salmon from streams in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, and caused by neorickettsia helminthoeca. The infection is transmitted by the fluke, Nanophyetus salmincola, parasitic in the salmon. The disease in dogs is characterized by fever, ocular discharge and edema of the eyelids, followed by vomiting, then diarrhea and later severe dysentery and death in untreated cases. See also elokomin fluke fever.
 
Nutritional Values: The Nutritional Value for: salmon

Description Quantity Energy
(calories)
Carbs
(grams)
Protein
(grams)
Cholesterol
(milligrams)
Weight
(grams)
Fat
(grams)
Saturated Fat
(grams)
baked, red 3 oz 140 0 21 60 85 5 1.2
canned, pink, w/ bones 3 oz 120 0 17 34 85 5 0.9
smoked 3 oz 150 0 18 51 85 8 2.6
 
Word Tutor: salmon
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A fish with a silver outside and pink inside.

pronunciation The fat in salmon is healthy.

 
Wikipedia: salmon
Illustration of a male Coho Salmon
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Illustration of a male Coho Salmon
The Chinook or King Salmon is the largest salmon in North America and can grow to 1.5 m (58 inches) in length and to 57 kg (125 pounds) in weight. This specimen shows the jaws drawn into a curved "kype", a secondary sex characteristic typical of many male salmon around spawning time.
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The Chinook or King Salmon is the largest salmon in North America and can grow to 1.5 m (58 inches) in length and to 57 kg (125 pounds) in weight. This specimen shows the jaws drawn into a curved "kype", a secondary sex characteristic typical of many male salmon around spawning time.

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish of the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the family are called trout. Salmon live in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as the Great Lakes and other land locked lakes.

Typically, salmon are anadromous: they are born in fresh water, migrate to the ocean, then return to fresh water to reproduce. Folklore has it that the fish return to the exact spot where they were born to spawn; research indicates that at least 90% of the fish that spawn in a particular stream were born there.[citation needed] In Alaska, the crossing-over to other streams allows salmon to populate new streams, such as those that emerge as a glacier retreats. The precise method salmon use to navigate has not been entirely established, though their keen sense of smell is involved. In all species of Pacific salmon, the mature individuals die within a few days or weeks of spawning, a trait known as semelparity. However, even in those species of salmon that may survive to spawn more than once (iteroparity), post-spawning mortality is quite high (perhaps as high as 40 to 50%.) Those species average about two or, perhaps, three spawning events per individual.[citation needed]

Salmon has long been at the heart of the culture and livelihood of coastal dwellers. Most peoples of the Northern Pacific shore had a ceremony to honor the first return of the year. For many centuries, people caught salmon as they swam upriver to spawn. A famous spearfishing site on the Columbia River at Celilo Falls was inundated after great dams were built on the river. The Ainu, of northern Japan, taught dogs how to catch salmon as they returned to their breeding grounds en masse. Now, salmon are caught in bays and near shore. Drift net fisheries have been banned on the high seas except off Northumberland on the east coast of England.[citation needed]

Salmon population levels are of concern in the Atlantic and in some parts of the Pacific but in northern British Columbia and Alaska stocks are still abundant. The Skeena River alone has millions of wild salmon returning which support commercial fisheries, aboriginal food fisheries, sports fisheries and the area's diverse wildlife on the coast and around communities hundreds of miles inland in the watershed. The Columbia River salmon population is now less than 3% of what it was when Lewis and Clark arrived at the river.[1]

Both Atlantic and Pacific Salmon are important to recreational fishing around the world.

In the southern hemisphere, there is a fish commonly called the Australian salmon but which is a salt water species and not related to the salmonidae. It is found along the southern coastline of Australia and Tasmania. Commonly caught with large beach nets, its use as a commercial fish has been declining over the last 20 years.[citation needed]

History

Eggs in different stages of development. In some only a few cells grow on top of the yolk, in the lower right the blood vessels surround the yolk and in the upper left the black eyes are visible, even the little lens
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Eggs in different stages of development. In some only a few cells grow on top of the yolk, in the lower right the blood vessels surround the yolk and in the upper left the black eyes are visible, even the little lens
Salmon fry hatching - the larva has grown around the remains of the yolk - visible are the arteries spinning around the yolk and little oildrops, also the gut, the spine, the main caudal blood vessel, the bladder and the arcs of the gills
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Salmon fry hatching - the larva has grown around the remains of the yolk - visible are the arteries spinning around the yolk and little oildrops, also the gut, the spine, the main caudal blood vessel, the bladder and the arcs of the gills

In order to lay her roe, the female salmon uses her tail fin to excavate a shallow depression, called a redd. The redd may sometimes contain 5,000 eggs covering 30 square feet.[2] The eggs usually range from orange to red in color. One or more males will approach the female in her redd, depositing his sperm, or milt, over the roe.[3] The female then covers the eggs by disturbing the gravel at the upstream edge of the depression before moving on to make another redd. The female will make as many as 7 redds before her supply of eggs is exhausted. The salmon then die within a few days of spawning.[3]

The eggs will hatch into alevin or sac fry. The fry quickly develop into parr with camouflaging vertical stripes. The parr stay for one to three years in their natal stream before becoming smolts which are distinguished by their bright silvery colour with scales that are easily rubbed off. It is estimated that only 10% of all salmon eggs survive long enough to reach this stage.[4] The smolt body chemistry changes, allowing them to live in salt water. Smolts spend a portion of their out-migration time in brackish water, where their body chemistry becomes accustomed to osmoregulation in the ocean.

The salmon spend one to five years (depending on the species) in the open ocean where they will become sexually mature. The adult salmon returns primarily to its natal stream to spawn. When fish return for the first time they are called whitling in the UK and grilse or peel in Ireland. Prior to spawning, depending on the species, the salmon undergoes changes. They may grow a hump, develop canine teeth, develop a kype (a pronounced curvature of the jaws in male salmon). All will change from the silvery blue of a fresh run fish from the sea to a darker color. Condition tends to deteriorate the longer the fish remain in freshwater, and they then deteriorate further after they spawn becoming known as kelts. Salmon can make amazing journeys, sometimes moving hundreds of miles upstream against strong currents and rapids to reproduce. Chinook and sockeye salmon from central Idaho, for example, travel over 900 miles and climb nearly 7000 feet from the Pacific ocean as they return to spawn.

The age of a salmon can be deduced from the growth rings on its scales, examined under the microscope.[citation needed] Each year, the fish experiences a period of rapid growth, often in summer, and one of slower growth, normally in winter. This results in rings (annuli) analogous to the growth rings visible in a tree trunk. Freshwater growth shows as densely crowded rings, sea growth as widely spaced rings; spawning is marked by significant erosion as body mass is converted into eggs and milt.

Freshwater streams and estuaries provide important habitat for many salmon species. They feed on terrestrial and aquatic insects, amphipods, and other crustaceans while young, and primarily on other fish when older. Eggs are laid in deeper water with larger gravel, and need cool water and good water flow (to supply oxygen) to the developing embryos. Mortality of salmon in the early life stages is usually high due to natural predation and human induced changes in habitat, such as siltation, high water temperatures, low oxygen conditions, loss of stream cover, and reductions in river flow. Estuaries and their associated wetlands provide vital nursery areas for the salmon prior to their departure to the open ocean. Wetlands not only help buffer the estuary from silt and pollutants, but also provide important feeding and hiding areas.

Salmon as food

Edouard Manet: Still Life with Salmon
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Edouard Manet: Still Life with Salmon
Filet of an Atlantic Salmon
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Filet of an Atlantic Salmon

Salmon is a popular food. Consuming salmon is considered to be reasonably healthy due to the fish's high protein and low fat levels and to its high Omega-3 fatty acids content. Salmon is also a source of cholesterol, ranging 23 - 214 mg/100g depending on the species [1]. According to reports in the journal Science, however, farmed salmon may contain high levels of dioxins. PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) levels may be up to eight times higher in farmed salmon than in wild salmon. Omega-3 content may also be lower than in wild caught individuals, and in a different proportion to what is found naturally. Omega 3 comes in three types, ALA, DHA and EPA, and it is DHA and EPA (important for brain function and brain structure, amongst other things) which traditionally wild salmon has been an important source of. This means that if the farmed salmon is fed on a meal which is partially grain then the amount of Omega 3 it contains will be present as ALA (Linoleic acid). The body can itself convert ALA Omega 3 into DHA and EPA, but at a very inefficient rate (2-15%). Nonetheless, according to a 2006 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the benefits of eating even farmed salmon still outweigh any risks imposed by contaminants [2]. Type of Omega 3 present may not be a factor for other important health functions. It is also noteworthy that wild salmon generally has among the lowest methylmercury contamination levels of all fish.[citation needed] A simple rule of thumb is that the vast majority of Atlantic salmon available on the world market are farmed (greater than 99%), whereas the majority of Pacific salmon are wild-caught (greater than 80%). Farmed salmon outnumber wild salmon 85 to 1.[5]

Most salmon these days are cultured. This takes place in large nets in quiet waters (fjords, bays) or in tanks on land. Most cultured salmon come from Norway, Scotland, Iceland, Alaska and Chile. These salmon are mainly fed with fishmeal. This does not contain shrimp, which means the salmon will stay white. The consumer, however, does not want white salmon, even though the taste is the same. For this reason astaxanthin is added to salmon feed. In most cases the astaxanthin is made chemically; alternatively it is extracted from shrimp flour. Another possibility is the use of dried red yeast, which provides the same pigment. However, synthetic mixtures are the least expensive option.

Astaxanthin is a carotenoid, meaning it is a compound similar to carotene. Other carotenoids are responsible for the colour of tomatoes, peppers and carrots. Humans also store astaxanthin in fatty tissues, but we do not get enough into our system to turn red. Flamingos owe their red colour to astaxanthin in the same way as salmon do.

Raw salmon in Japanese style
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Raw salmon in Japanese style

Salmon flesh is generally orange to red in colour, although there are some examples of white fleshed wild salmon. The natural colour of salmon results from carotenoid pigments, largely astaxanthin (E161j), in the flesh.[6] Wild salmon get these carotenoids from eating krill and other tiny shellfish. Because consumers have shown a reluctance to purchase white fleshed salmon, astaxanthin, and very minutely canthaxanthin (E161g)), are added as artificial colourants to the feed of farmed salmon because prepared diets do not naturally contain these pigments. Astaxanthin is a potent antioxidant that stimulates the development of healthy fish nervous systems and that enhances the fish's fertility and growth rate. Research has revealed canthaxanthin may have negative effects on the human eye, accumulating in the retina at high levels of consumption.[6] Today the concentration of carotenoids (mainly canthaxanthin and astaxanthin) exceeds 8 mg/kg of flesh and all fish producers try to reach a level that represents a value of 16 on the "Roche Color Card", a colour card used to show how pink the fish will appear at specific doses. This scale is specific for measuring the pink colour due to astaxanthin and is not for the orange hue obtained with canthaxanthin. The development of processing and storage operations, which can be detrimental on canthaxanthin flesh concentration, has led to an increased quantity of pigments added to the diet to compensate for the degrading effects of the processing. In wild fish, carotenoid levels of up to 20-25 mg are present, but levels of canthaxanthin are, in contrast, minor.[6]

Canned salmon in the U.S. is usually wild Pacific catch, though some farmed salmon is available in canned form. Smoked salmon is another popular preparation method, and can either be hot or cold smoked. Lox can refer either to cold smoked salmon or to salmon cured in a brine solution (also called gravlax).

Raw salmon flesh may contain Anisakis nematodes, marine parasites that cause Anisakiasis. Before the availability of refrigeration, the Japanese did not consume raw salmon. Salmon and salmon roe have only recently come into use in making sashimi (raw fish) and sushi.

Environmental pressures

Many wild Salmon stocks have seen a marked decline in recent decades, especially north Atlantic populations which spawn in western European waters, and wild salmon of the Snake and Columbia River systems in the Northwest USA. The causes of these declines likely include a number of factors, among them:

  • Disease transfer from open net cage salmon farming, especially sea lice. The European Commission (2002) concluded “The reduction of wild salmonid abundance is also linked to other factors but there is more and more scientific evidence establishing a direct link between the number of lice-infested wild fish and the presence of cages in the same estuary.” See Scientific Evidence.
  • Overfishing in general but especially commercial netting in the Faroes and Greenland.
  • Ocean and river warming which can delay spawning and accelerate transition to smolting.
  • Ulcerative dermal necrosis (UDN) infections of the 1970s and 1980s which severely affected adult salmon in freshwater rivers.
  • Loss of suitable freshwater habitat, especially degradation of stream pools and reduction of suitable material for the excavation of redds.
  • The construction of dams, weirs, barriers and other "flood prevention" measures, which bring severe adverse impacts to river habitat and on the accessibility of those habitats to salmon. This is particularly true in the northwest USA, where large numbers of dams have been built in many river systems, including over 400 in the Columbia River Basin.
  • Loss of invertebrate diversity and population density in rivers because of modern farming methods and various sources of pollution, thus reducing food availability.
  • Reduction in freshwater base flow in rivers and disruption of seasonal flows, because of diversions and extractions, hydroelectric power generation, irrigation schemes, and slackwater reservoirs, which inhibit normal migratory processes and increase predation for salmon.

There are efforts to relieve this situation. As such, several governments and NGOs are sharing in research and habitat restoration efforts.

Aquaculture

Artificially-incubated chum salmon
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Artificially-incubated chum salmon

Salmon aquaculture is the major economic contributor to the world production of farmed fin-fish, representing over $1 billion US annually. Other commonly cultured fish species include: tilapia, catfish, sea bass, carp, bream, and trout. Salmon farming is very big in Chile, Norway, Sweden, Scotland,and Canada, and is the source for most salmon consumed in America and Europe. Atlantic salmon are also farmed in Russia, Tasmania, Australia and the UK.

Salmon are carnivorous and are currently fed a meal produced from catching other wild fish and other marine organisms. Consequently, as the number of farmed salmon increase, so does the demand for other fish to feed the salmon. Work continues on substituting vegetable proteins for animal proteins in the salmon diet. Unfortunately though, this substitution results in lower levels of the highly valued Omega-3 content in the farmed product. Intensive salmon farming now uses open net cages which have low production costs but have the drawback of allowing disease and sea lice to spread to local wild salmon stocks.

Another form of salmon production, which is safer but less controllable, is to raise salmon in hatcheries until they are old enough to become independent. They are then released into rivers, often in an attempt to increase the salmon population. This practice was very common in countries like Sweden before the Norwegians developed salmon farming, but is seldom done by private companies, as anyone may catch the salmon when they return to spawn, limiting a company's chances of benefiting financially from their investment. Because of this, the method has mainly been used by various public authorities as a way of artificially increasing salmon populations in situations where they have declined due to overharvest, construction of dams, and habitat destruction or disruption. Unfortunately, there can be negative consequences to this sort of population manipulation, including genetic "dilution" of the wild stocks, and many jurisdictions are now beginning to discourage supplemental fish planting in favour of harvest controls and habitat improvement and protection. A variant method of fish stocking, called ocean ranching, is under development in Alaska. There, the young salmon are released into the ocean far from any wild salmon streams. When it is time for them to spawn, they return to where they were released where fishermen can then catch them.

Farm raised salmon are fed the dye astaxanthin (3,3'-hydroxy-ß,ß-carotene-4,4'-dione), a carotenoid pigment, so that their flesh color matches wild salmon. [2]

Species

The various species of salmon have many names, and varying behaviors.

Atlantic Ocean species

Atlantic salmon
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Atlantic salmon

Atlantic ocean species belong to the genus Salmo. They include,

  • Atlantic salmon or Salmon (Salmo salar), is the species after which all the others are named.

Pacific Ocean species

Pacific species belong to the genus Oncorhynchus, some examples include;

  • Cherry salmon (Oncorhynchus masu or O. masou) is found only in the western Pacific Ocean in Japan, Korea and Russia and also landlocked in central Taiwan's Chi Chia Wan Stream. [3]
  • Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) is also known locally as King, Tyee, Spring salmon, Quinnat, Tule, or Blackmouth salmon. Chinook are the largest of all Pacific salmon, frequently exceeding 30 lbs. (14 kg).[4]
  • Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) is known locally as Dog or Calico salmon. This species has the widest geographic range of the Pacific species[5] : south to the Sacramento River in California in the eastern Pacific and the island of Kyūshū in the Sea of Japan in the western Pacific; north to the Mackenzie River in Canada in the east and to the Lena River in Siberia in the west.
  • Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) is also known locally as Silver salmon. This species is found throughout the coastal waters of Alaska and British Columbia and up most clear-running streams and rivers.
  • Pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), known as humpies in south east Alaska, are found from northern California and Korea, throughout the northern Pacific, and from the Mackenzie River in Canada to the Lena River in Siberia, usually in shorter coastal streams. It is the smallest of the Pacific species, with an average weight of 3.5 to 4 lbs. (1.6 - 1.8 kg).[6]
  • Sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) is known in the USA as Red salmon.[7] This lake-rearing species is found south as far as the Klamath River in California in the eastern Pacific 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. Although most adult Pacific salmon feed on small fish, shrimp and squid; sockeye feed on plankton that they filter through gill rakers.[8]
  • Steelhead or Steelhead trout or Rainbow trout (Oncorhychus mykiss) are river spawners, usually found in the same rivers that produce chinook, especially the Columbia, Snake, Skeena, and other large rivers on the Pacific Coast. Steelhead have also been introduced into some rivers surrounding the Laurentian Great Lakes.

Other species

  • Land-locked salmon (Salmo salar sebago) live in a number of lakes in eastern North America. This subspecies of Atlantic Salmon is non-migratory, even when access to the sea is not barred.
  • Kokanee salmon is a land-locked form of sockeye salmon.
  • Huchen or Danube salmon (Hucho hucho), the largest permanent fresh water salmonid

Salmon in mythology

In Norse mythology, when Loki, god of mischief and strife, tricked Hod the blind god into killing Baldr, god of beauty and light, Loki jumped into a river and transformed himself into a salmon in order to escape punishment from the other gods. When they held out a net to trap him he attempted to leap over it but was caught by Thor who grabbed him by the tail with his hand, and this is why the salmon's tail is tapered.[9]

In the mythology of the Gaels, the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill, leader of the Fianna, gained powers of perception from a salmon. The young Fionn met the poet Finegas near the river Boyne and studied under him. Finegas had spent seven years trying to catch the salmon of knowledge which lived in a pool on the Boyne, for whoever ate the salmon would gain all the knowledge in the world. Eventually he caught it and told the boy to cook it for him. While cooking it Fionn burst a blister on the salmon's skin, burning his thumb, and instinctively put his thumb in his mouth, swallowing a piece of the salmon's skin. This imbued him with the salmon's wisdom.[10]

References

  1. ^ Project Bear Lake. Retrieved on 2007-02-03.
  2. ^ Pigments in Salmon Aquaculture: How to Grow a Salmon-colored Salmon. Retrieved on 2007-08-26. “Astaxanthin (3,3'-hydroxy-ß,ß-carotene-4,4'-dione) is a carotenoid pigment, one of a large group of organic molecules related to vitamins and widely found in plants. In addition to providing red, orange, and yellow colors to various plant parts and playing a role in photosynthesis, carotenoids are powerful antioxidants, and some (notably various forms of carotene) are essential precursors to vitamin A synthesis in animals.”
  3. ^ Formosan salmon. Taiwan Journal. Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
  4. ^ Chinook Salmon. Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Retrieved on 2006-11-17.
  5. ^ Chum Salmon. Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Retrieved on 2006-11-17.
  6. ^ Pink Salmon. Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Retrieved on 2006-11-17.
  7. ^ Sockeye Salmon. Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Retrieved on 2006-11-17.
  8. ^
  9. ^ Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
  10. ^ Fenian Cycle attributed to Oisín

External links

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Translations: Translations for: Salmon

Dansk (Danish)
n. - laks

Nederlands (Dutch)
zalm, zalmkleurig

Français (French)
n. - saumon
adj. - au saumon

Deutsch (German)
n. - Lachs
adj. - lachsfarben

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ιχθυολ.) σολομός
adj. - ροδοκίτρινος, σομόν

Italiano (Italian)
salmone

Português (Portuguese)
n. - salmão (m) (Ictiol.)
adj. - salmão

Русский (Russian)
лосось европейский, семга, лососина, цвет сомон, оранжево-розовый цвет

Español (Spanish)
n. - salmón, color salmón
adj. - bical, asalmonado, de color de salmón

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - lax
adj. - laxfärgad

中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
鲑鱼, 鲜肉色, 大麻哈鱼

中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 鮭魚, 鮮肉色, 大麻哈魚

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 연어

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - タイセイヨウサケ, サケ, 鮭

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) سمك ألسلمون (صفه) وردي - برتقالي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮סלמון, אלתית, ורוד-צהבהב‬


 
 

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Food and Nutrition. A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2005 by A. E. Bender and D. A. Bender. All rights reserved.  Read more
Food Lover's Companion. Food Lover's Companion. Copyright © 2001 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006