Coho, more dams & Happy Thanksgiving!

I like the picture on the bottom as it shows the color well, but the other is set up nicer.

The end of the quarter quickly approaches & there remains much to do- the focus of the nearshore project has been shifted toward the sandlance work. Which means more walking & a drier me- I miss the seining with the close & personal fish viewing but it will be back soon enough.

On that note here are a couple of pictures of the Coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch­) that we caught (& released) early last week. I will use this forum to discuss some of the identifying features of a Coho salmon as I have some difficulty keeping it straight so far. This was the first large salmon that my team has caught (~77cm if memory serves), I believe it is the first large salmon the project has caught. It came from one of the side channels of the Elwha- some salmon do still spawn in the accessible part of the river (below the dams)- after some stormy weather here in PA.

So the Coho can be identified by several features including- white gums, a black tongue, few tail spots & spots on dorsal ~half of body & a wide tail base. They are also called silvers, among other names. This particular salmon is apparently a male- identified as such by its brilliant shade of red, females are less brightly colored. Mature males can also have a slightly humped back.

While researching on the health of Coho salmon stocks in the area I just came across an interesting article relating back to a previous discussion of the controversy surrounding dams in general. This article discusses the dams on the Snake River & the health of Orca populations check it out-

http://kitsapsun.com/news/2007/nov/20/orca-researchers-call-for-dam-removal/

I particularly enjoyed reading the comments of many readers. It takes all kinds. To give credit this link came from the Wild Salmon Center- http://wildsalmoncenter.org/ -
Signing off for now.

Hope everyone is having a great holiday, Peter & I had a great time sand lance sampling & eating a wonderful southwestern influenced dinner with Anne & family. No crab this year but it wasn’t really missed!
mel