Even though this year’s Cedar River Salmon Journey is drawing to a close, the Seattle Aquarium is a great place to see and learn about salmon—no matter the season! Take a look at the chinook salmon eggs shown below; they were just added to our salmon hatchery trough. Their developing eyes tell us that they’re about a month old.
This is the season we celebrate salmon returning to their natal streams and rivers right here in Seattle, but how do salmon find their way home? Before we tackle that, though, a larger question: why do they do it?
Many people know that the broad term “salmon” encompasses several different species. Seven of those are found here in the Pacific Northwest: chinook, coho, chum, pink, sockeye, steelhead and cutthroat.
Some are still eggs in the redd (the term for a nest of salmon eggs), but many have hatched into the alevin, or newly hatched baby salmon, you see above.
On October 17, the wild salmon conservation group Long Live the Kings (LLTK) held their annual benefit dinner in the Seattle Aquarium’s Puget Sound Hall, which was also the site of the launch event for their new international research project in August.
