Sockeye or Red Salmon are one of five types of salmon that spawn in Alaska . The other four are king , pink , chum and silver .
The Sockeye Salmon life cycle begins in egg form and has two requirements : a gravel river bed so that the eggs can be properly hidden from predators , and fresh water at roughly 47 degrees surging from below the gravel – which is accomplished through subterranean rivers that exist throughout Alaska delivering a perfect temperature and amount of oxygen to the incubated eggs .
From there , the salmon hatch and develop into fry . Fry are small creatures that resemble tadpoles . They spend their time in a fresh water habitat – such as a large lake – and avoid predators that range from rainbow trout to bald eagles .
In their fresh-water nursery the salmon develop into an adolescent fish . They leave their natal lake or fresh water habitat and travel to the open salt-water sea . They make their way to a pacific gyre – a large circular ocean current that functions like a maritime highway . Many types of sea life travel along this current . Its food supply and moderate temperature make a perfect habitat for the salmon as it matures as a salt-water fish .
After traveling a pacific gyre for about two years the salmon yearn to make it back to their natal stream . Through machinations that are still relatively unknown , they make their way back to the river in which they were born . As they travel back to freshwater their body shape and pigment start to change . The fish take on a reddish sheen , partially due to their diet of shrimp and other shellfish . At this point the fish no longer eat or sleep until they make it back to their home stream
Once the salmon make it to their freshwater origin they find a partner and perform a mating ritual . Eggs are laid in the gravel river-bed and fertilized . The salmon , exhausted and starving , die shortly after they spawn and become food for the bears and birds of prey on the river ’ s edge .
13 THE CONE - ISSUE # 11 - 2017