craigdritchie Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 With all the talk about salmon lately, lets have a little fun - take a look at the three photos below and see if you can correctly identify the species. All three photos are of the same individual fish. Enjoy!
Fisherman Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 Last time I checked, Chinook have irregular spots all over the tail, Coho only have irregular spots on the upper half of the tail, and Atlantics have those other spots on the gill plate
craigdritchie Posted July 23, 2009 Author Report Posted July 23, 2009 smoked salmon mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!! I'll second that! Lets leave it till tomorrow, so more people can have a look and throw their votes into the ring. Starting to rain as I type this. Pretty much exactly this time last year, a small run of chinooks showed up in Erindale just after a good thunderstorm. I'm talking a very small number of fish, but in that warmer water, when you have them all to yourself, it sure was a lot of fun. Between those memories and the look of this pretty 'lil fishie, I'm definitely starting to feel the itch.
Kerry Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 Chinny's usually have black gums.This one looks like the upper is more whitish.I'll go with COHO. Kerry
CLofchik Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 (edited) With all the talk about salmon lately, lets have a little fun - take a look at the three photos below and see if you can correctly identify the species. All three photos are of the same individual fish. Enjoy! CO-NOOK! Edited July 23, 2009 by CLofchik
camillj Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 (edited) Chromer-Ho "Jeremy Holden, an Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters fisheries biologist, noted some 80,000 cohos reared at the Ringwood Fish Culture Station in Stouffville will be seeded at various sites this fall along the Credit River. By utilizing the Credit River, it would create a main run of returning coho salmon for future egg collections, Holden said. Raised at the Ringwood hatchery for about a year, the cohos entering the Credit River will be at the fingerling stage and weigh approximately 0.25 grams. “They will stocked in the stream where they will over reside over winter before smolting out to the lake in the spring of 2009,” he said of the fish, which have a three-year lifecycle and have a tendancy to return to their river where they were stocked during the fall months to fulfill their spawning ritual and then die." Who knew ???? Edited July 23, 2009 by camillj
Jonny Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 Going strictly by book larnin', since I've only caught a few salmon - all chinook - and I can't remember the distinguishing features in fine detail... Process of elimination: Definitely not Atlantic salmon, which has a few large well-defined spots on head and gill cover, as well as on the sides. Definitely not pure coho, which has spots only on the top lobe of the tail fin. Gum colour doesn't help distinguish coho and chinook in the Great Lakes. The gums look black, and since the tail spots are on both lobes, it's looking good for chinook. What your picture doesn't show clearly is whether the tail spots go pretty well all the way to the extremities. Since they seem to be only at the base of the tail, it's not looking good for chinook. The male chinook has a bit more of a V in the tail than the female. The female chinook is almost a "squaretail" like the brook trout. so are both sexes of coho. So the pretty much square tail in your photo looks good for a female chinook. The dorsal fin of the chinook is covered with spots, the male coho has a few spots only at the base of the dorsal, the female coho none at all. But your pictures don't show that either. There are natural hybrids of chinook and coho known. My bet is on a co-nook, although if I could see the entire tail and it were spotted to the end I'd change that to chinook. We are talking a Great Lakes fish here, right? You didn't specify. Anyway, that was fun - I await your revelation.. --- Or did you throw a real monkey-wrench into this? Could be a steelhead, although that should have some spots on the top of the head. But the tail is similarly spotted. Skamania? I don't know - can't find a really good picture or drawing of one.
John Bacon Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 Chromer-Ho "Jeremy Holden, an Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters fisheries biologist, noted some 80,000 cohos reared at the Ringwood Fish Culture Station in Stouffville will be seeded at various sites this fall along the Credit River. By utilizing the Credit River, it would create a main run of returning coho salmon for future egg collections, Holden said. Raised at the Ringwood hatchery for about a year, the cohos entering the Credit River will be at the fingerling stage and weigh approximately 0.25 grams. “They will stocked in the stream where they will over reside over winter before smolting out to the lake in the spring of 2009,” he said of the fish, which have a three-year lifecycle and have a tendancy to return to their river where they were stocked during the fall months to fulfill their spawning ritual and then die." Who knew ???? They were stocked in 2008 as well.
craigdritchie Posted July 23, 2009 Author Report Posted July 23, 2009 "Jeremy Holden, an Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters fisheries biologist, noted some 80,000 cohos reared at the Ringwood Fish Culture Station in Stouffville will be seeded at various sites this fall along the Credit River.By utilizing the Credit River, it would create a main run of returning coho salmon for future egg collections, Holden said. Raised at the Ringwood hatchery for about a year, the cohos entering the Credit River will be at the fingerling stage and weigh approximately 0.25 grams. “They will stocked in the stream where they will over reside over winter before smolting out to the lake in the spring of 2009,” he said of the fish, which have a three-year lifecycle and have a tendancy to return to their river where they were stocked during the fall months to fulfill their spawning ritual and then die." Who knew ???? I really hope this program is successful. Coho are so much fun to catch they're totally worth the cost of raising them in the hatchery. Good guesses so far on the salmon ID. I will admit, this is a tough one.
jace Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 by eliminationmy way, it's a chum or some sort of hybrid that's displays mostly chum characteristics. 1-is definitely not a coho. tail wrist is too thin and it's spotted all over ( chum tails are also thin wristed) 2-not a chinook because the body spots are too fine, a chum characteristic (and reds) -mouth is dark but not as dark as the typical king.. -the body coloring bleeds far into the tail which makes this a chum tail. man. have to stay up another 4 hours to make my last connecting flight. so tired already.
craigdritchie Posted July 23, 2009 Author Report Posted July 23, 2009 Here's a couple of other pics that may help: Full body shot: Another view of the head, this time with the mouth closed: Finally, this one is a different individual fish, but the same species: Enjoy!
jace Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 Here's a couple of other pics that may help: nice coho. didn't think it was that small. hehe The tails upper lobe spotting and silverness will be less pronounced later. and the thicker wrist is obvious in the full shot angle.
MJL Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 (edited) Cherry salmon Edited July 23, 2009 by MJL
Jonny Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 (edited) I can't believe I spent so much time on it last night, but it's intriguing even though my experience with salmon is limited. The dorsal fin of the chinook is covered with spots, the male coho has a few spots only at the base of the dorsal, the female coho none at all. There are some spots on the dorsal, as well as on both lobes of the tail, so my best guess stays the same. Edited July 23, 2009 by Jocko
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