Salmon fish are the only family in the suborder of salmonids. Among them there are both freshwater and migratory species. Of these, the most common are: salmon, chum salmon, pink salmon, coho salmon, sockeye salmon, chinook salmon, whitefish, brown trout, grayling, omul, char, char, taimen and lenok. Most of these fish are simply called collective names: trout and salmon.
Origin
Salmon fish appeared approximately 145 million years ago. In structure and form, they are very similar to herring-like, and in some classifications they even combine them. But salmon can be easily distinguished by a well-drawn side line on the body. The division of the family into modern species occurred 62-25 million years ago.
Distinctive features
Salmon family fish can have a body length from a few centimeters (for example, whitefish) to two meters, and their weight can reach seventy kilograms (taimen, salmon, chinook salmon).
The absolute record holder in size is taimen. This fish of the salmon family can live more than fifty years, have a weight of one hundred kilograms, a length of more than two and a half meters. The body is long and narrow, covered with round scales.
All salmon fish have one dorsal fin and one adipose fin located behind it.
Breeding
Life expectancy in individual species can reach fifteen years.
They can reproduce only in fresh water. At the same time, some species constantly live in lakes, but most of them rise for spawning from saline reservoirs to fresh ones. Most often they return to the same place where they were born. It is still unknown how exactly they find their native river. Perhaps, according to the heavenly bodies and bright constellations, or according to the taste of water and the most subtle features of its composition.
During spawning, salmon change their shape and color (put on a "mating outfit").
Spawning
As already mentioned, the propagation of salmon occurs only in fresh water - in streams, rivers or lakes. This is due to the fact that their ancestors were freshwater, and only some of their descendants evolved into migratory fish - these are Atlantic and Pacific salmon.
Most species spawn only once in a lifetime, after which they die. This is more characteristic of Pacific salmon, but the Atlantic can spawn up to four times.
Before this process, salmon fish change significantly both externally and internally. The color of silver becomes red-black, sometimes a hump may appear in males, and teeth become larger. But almost all internal organs are degrading, meat becomes less elastic and, as a result, less valuable.
Place of residence
Most salmon live in the Northern Hemisphere. They are most common in North Asia, Europe, North America, as well as in the mountains of North Africa. In the southern hemisphere in the natural habitat this family is absent, but in some places they are artificially acclimatized and bred.
Fishing
Their meat has a characteristic taste and is very rich in useful substances, so all types of salmon are subject to fishing. They give a catch of about three percent of all harvested marine fish.