What are salmon fish? Description of salmon fish (salmon), cooking recipes and beneficial properties

Salmonidae is a family of fish belonging to the order Salmonidae. They are valuable commercial species because they have tasty and nutritious meat containing a large amount of substances beneficial to the body.

Representatives of the salmon family have an oblong, elongated body covered with scales. Their peculiarity is the presence of an adipose fin, which has no rays. There are lake, river and sea fish species.

They live in the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, in fresh water bodies of the Northern Hemisphere. Found in middle and northern latitudes. Large spawning grounds are located on Sakhalin, Kamchatka, and the Kuril Islands. In addition, some types of salmon are farmed artificially. They inhabit lakes such as Onega, Baikal, Chukchi. Some species of salmon are found in the river. Some members of the family are found in the ocean and move to fresh water bodies to spawn.

Appearance

Features of appearance depend on the species.

The body of the fish is elongated, covered with large scales. The size of an individual can vary from a few centimeters to 2 m. Salmon can weigh up to 70 kg. The largest species is considered to be the freshwater salmon taimen: the maximum recorded weight of a representative of this breed was 105 kg.

Color may vary depending on external conditions. Often the color of the fish changes during the spawning period. The changes are especially strong in males: their body is covered with red, crimson or black spots. The skin becomes rough, the jaw becomes bent, and a hump grows (hence the name of one of the species - pink salmon). Scientists make different guesses about the nature of the phenomenon: some believe that hormonal changes affect the fish, others consider color changes to be a way of attracting females.

Spawning period and offspring

All types of salmon fish breed only in fresh water: rivers, streams. An anadromous fish of the salmon family spends most of its life in salt waters, although it can also live in fresh water. At 2-5 years of age it reaches sexual maturity and goes to rivers to spawn. Most of the inhabitants of salt water bodies leave offspring only once: after spawning they die. The exception is some species inhabiting the Atlantic Ocean: some individuals survive and can spawn up to 4 times. Freshwater salmon fish leave offspring more often and survive after spawning.

During spawning, the appearance of the fish changes. Changes occur not only externally, but also internally: the functioning of the stomach, intestines, and liver changes. The meat becomes less fatty.

The number of eggs and the speed of development depend on the species. The fry often live in schools. As they grow older, their diet and habitat change.

For inhabitants of northern latitudes, spawning time occurs from September to October; The water temperature at this time should be from 0 to 8 degrees. Species living in southern waters spawn from October to December at temperatures of +3…+10°C.

Lifestyle and nutritional habits

Salmon are predators. Their diet includes a large number of different inhabitants of reservoirs: they eat other types of fish, crustaceans, worms, squid, mollusks, small mammals, and jellyfish. Young individuals eat insect larvae and fry of other species. Large species can prey on waterfowl.

Lifespan

Most representatives of the salmon family live no more than 10 years. Some of them, however, have a longer life expectancy. Taimen can live up to 60 years.

Salmon classification

The family is divided into 2 subfamilies: salmon and whitefish. Whitefish have smaller mouths and larger scales. The skull is structured differently.

The scale size of Pacific varieties varies from small to medium. The caviar is large and has a reddish-orange color. After spawning they die. This genus includes chum salmon, sockeye salmon, pink salmon,.

Real salmon have smaller fins and fewer rays than those living in the Pacific Ocean. Young animals grow teeth on the vomer bone. During the spawning period, the color changes. They do not die after spawning. They have bright colors.

Loaches are similar in appearance to species living in the Pacific Ocean. They have no teeth on the vomer bone, and there are no spots on the body.

All fish of the salmon family

Various fish of the salmon family have been described; list:

1. Salmon. The main habitat of salmon is the White Sea. The length of an individual can be 1−1.5 m. The color of the scales is silver, the spots characteristic of salmon are weakly expressed. The diet is based on small fish. During the spawning period, the amount of food consumed is greatly reduced. During the breeding season, red and orange spots appear.
2. . Pink salmon scales are small and silvery. The fins and head turn black before spawning. Males have a hump on their back, which is how the fish got its name. The length reaches 65−70 cm. The caviar is large: the diameter of 1 egg reaches 5−8 mm. Lives 3-4 years, after which it dies. It feeds on crustaceans, mollusks, and small fish. It is thermophilic, winters at temperatures not lower than +5°C.
3. . There are no spots or stripes on the silvery scales of chum salmon, which are characteristic of other members of the family. During the breeding season it darkens, becomes almost black. Chum salmon is a commercial fish, the caviar is a large, reddish variety.
4. - freshwater fish of the salmon genus; the only anadromous subspecies is the Sakhalin one. Salmon taimen is the most major representative families.
5. Sockeye salmon is a fish from the Far Eastern salmon family. It grows up to 70−80 cm. The eggs are small, 4−5 mm in diameter. The diet is based on small crustaceans. According to the timing of spawning, summer and spring varieties are divided.
6. . There are 3 subspecies of trout: rainbow, lake and brook. Spots on her body appear in cases where the diet is poor. Can live in salt and fresh water.
7. - the largest species living in the Pacific Ocean. Its length varies between 85 cm and 90 cm. There are more than 15 gill rays. It is found off the coast of North America and swims to the rivers of Kamchatka to spawn. Lives no more than 7 years, more often - 4-5 years. Breeds from June to August.
8. Nelma. Belonging to the whitefish subfamily, nelma is a freshwater species. Its dimensions can reach up to 1.3 m, body weight - up to 30 kg. It rarely swims into the sea and tries to stay in desalinated areas.
9. . Loaches are common in Kamchatka and Magadan. Their scales are small. They can be either walk-through or residential. In some species, spawning takes place in still water.

Commercial value

Salmon are considered a valuable commercial species due to their red caviar and the characteristics of their dietary meat. These products contain large quantities necessary for normal functioning. human body substances have a pleasant taste. The catch is strictly regulated because salmon numbers have declined greatly. Freshwater species are less valuable. Amateur and sport fishing is allowed.

Salmon, or atlantic salmon, or lake salmon (Salmo salar) belongs to the class Lace-finned fish, order Salmonidae, family Salmonidae, genus salmon and has no subspecies.

Salmon (Atlantic salmon) - description and characteristics

Salmon has a long, laterally compressed body, covered with silvery, easily exfoliating small round scales with a comb edge. A characteristic feature indicating that Atlantic salmon belongs to the salmon genus is a small adipose fin located opposite the anal and behind the dorsal fin. The pelvic fins, located in the middle part of the body, have more than 6 rays. The pectoral fins of salmon are located much lower than the midline. Both paired and single fins lack spiny rays, and the tail has an angular notch.

Mouth salmon fish framed by the short premaxillary and long maxillary bones. The eyes are equipped with transparent eyelids. Young specimens, unlike mature fish, have weak teeth and no characteristic hook on the lower jaw, while the upper jaw has a corresponding recess for it. Above the lateral line on the body of Atlantic salmon there are spots resembling the shape of the letter X.

Salmon lives up to 13-15 years. The weight of salmon can reach 43 kg, and the body length is often 1.5 m.

Color salmon scales depends on the age of the fish:

• young representatives are dark in color, with clearly visible transverse spots
• adults have a belly colored White color, green or bluish back and silvery sides
• In spawning female salmon, the color acquires a bronze tint with red spots visible on it

Where do salmon (lake salmon) live?

Salmon is a diadromous fish that is born in fresh water. As a result of age-related mutations, it moves to salty bodies of water, where it lives for almost the rest of its life. Therefore, its habitat is very wide. Atlantic salmon is found both in the waters of the North Atlantic and in the Arctic Ocean, freshwater bodies of the Scandinavian Peninsula and Finland. On the territory of the Russian Federation, salmon lives in lakes and rivers of the Kola Peninsula and Karelia, the waters of the Baltic and White Seas, and in Lakes Onega and Ladoga.

What does salmon (Atlantic salmon) eat?

The diet of salmon fish depends on age. Young animals living in rivers or lakes, up to the age of five, first feed on plankton, various larvae and insects, adding crustaceans, shells and small fish to the menu as they grow older. After moving to the sea for feeding, the main food of adult fish becomes sprat, capelin, herring, smelt and herring.

Spawning of salmon, Atlantic salmon

Salmon reaches sexual maturity at the age of 5-6 years. Having fed up a sufficient amount of fat reserves in sea or ocean waters, from September to November, sexually mature individuals of Atlantic salmon go to spawn in places located in the upper or middle reaches of rivers with winter water temperatures from 0 0 to 3 0 C. The best place for it development are rapid areas with spring recharge and a bottom consisting of sand and pebble soil.

In a shallow but long groove dug by her tail, the female salmon lays from 6 to 26 thousand eggs, which are fertilized by the male salmon. After this, the masonry is covered with sand and pebbles. At the end of salmon spawning, which can last up to 14 days, the fish migrate downstream. The fry begin to appear only towards the end of winter, grow rather slowly, and by the age of one year they reach only 12-15 cm in length.

Unlike Pacific salmon, which spawn only once, Atlantic salmon can return to spawn several times. And yet, most individuals spawn no more than 1-2 times.

Breeding and growing salmon

The growing need for delicate and very tasty salmon meat has forced entrepreneurs to develop ways artificial cultivation of this fish in sea cages. Norway and Chile have been particularly successful in this industry. The methods used on fish farms make it possible to achieve unprecedented growth in one year and grow a mature five-kilogram fish from a twenty-centimeter fry. Due to the high cost of technology for growing Atlantic salmon in the Russian Federation, artificial breeding is not yet widespread.

Salmon - beneficial properties

Salmon is a very tasty and healthy fish. Its meat contains many vitamins and minerals: calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, iodine, fluorine, vitamins D, A and B. Atlantic salmon is very rich in protein and has more calories than white fish. Salmon contains a lot of omega-3 fatty acids, which have a positive effect on cardiovascular system person. These unsaturated fats are extremely healthy. Salmon fish oil lowers blood cholesterol levels. Eating this fish improves vision and brain function, improves blood circulation, the functioning of the liver and gastrointestinal tract, vascular and nervous systems, improves mood and immunity, reduces the risk of thrombosis, reduces the symptoms of psoriasis, and alleviates the symptoms of asthma.

• Salmon fish smells the smell of its native river at a distance of 800 kilometers from the mouth.
• During spawning, salmon lays from 6,000 to 26,000 eggs. After spawning, the fish loses half its weight.

Salmon fish occupies a special place in the human diet. Its main distinguishing feature is dietary and at the same time very tasty meat, which can be consumed by everyone without exception. It has a relatively low calorie content, however, it is fatty and tender. The meat has a pleasant pink-red color. Fish contains a lot of useful micro-, macroelements and vitamins. In addition, red caviar of the salmon family is considered a delicacy, the price of which is several times less than black caviar. This article will talk about representatives of the salmon family, what environment they live in, what characteristics have.

Habitat of fish of the salmon family

The habitat of these fish is quite wide. Representatives of the salmon family can be found in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in fresh water bodies of the Northern Hemisphere. The largest natural spawning grounds for these fish species are located in Kamchatka, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.

For the most part, this is a commercial and valuable fish of the salmon family; its production, as mentioned above, is carried out not only for the sake of tasty meat, but also for the sake of red caviar.

Feature

Fish of the salmon family have one distinctive feature. It lies in the fact that any representative of a given species, even fish northern seas of the salmon family, comes to spawn in freshwater rivers. For example, Pacific individuals mainly spawn in the rivers of the Kamchatka Territory. During this period, the appearance of the fish changes beyond recognition; it becomes different both in color and shape. And the quality of meat at this time is greatly reduced. Therefore, catching fish when they go to spawn is prohibited.

Almost all salmon have a body that is flattened laterally. In addition, the salmon family is distinguished from other fish species by the presence of a lateral line.

Species of fish belonging to the salmon family

Among the fish of this species there are both freshwater and anadromous ones. In accordance with this classification, subspecies are divided. What fish of the salmon family exist?

1. Northern salmon or salmon.
2. Belorybitsa.
3. Nelma.
4. Pink salmon.
5. Coho salmon.
6. Chum salmon.
7. Chinook salmon.
8. Red salmon.
9. Trout.

Brief description of salmon fish. Salmon

Let's take a closer look at what some fish of the salmon family are. The list opens with northern salmon (noble salmon) or salmon. This large and beautiful species of fish lives in the White Sea basin. The meat of this representative of salmon is very tasty and tender, reddish in color. It is rich in various useful substances and vitamins. Salmon is distinguished by its large size, its length is up to 1.5 meters and its weight is 40 kg. In terms of cost, salmon meat is more expensive than all other representatives of the salmon family.

The body of the salmon is covered with small silvery scales; spots on the lower lateral line are completely absent. This fish of the salmon family feeds in the sea on crustaceans and small fish. When she goes to spawn, she stops feeding and therefore loses a lot of weight. TO mating season the appearance of the salmon changes greatly: the body of the fish darkens, and orange-red spots appear on the sides and head. In males, the jaws also change; a hook-shaped protrusion is formed in their upper part, which fits into the recess of the lower jaw.

Salmon spawns in the fall, and in some areas in the winter. The water temperature in the spawning grounds does not exceed 6 degrees Celsius, so the development of eggs occurs very slowly. Only in May do the young begin to hatch from the eggs and then live in fresh water for a long time. Juveniles do not at all resemble their adult relatives - they are mobile and colorfully colored fish. After 5 years, they approach the mouths of rivers and, having reached a size of 9-18 cm, go out to sea. At this time, their body is covered with silvery scales.

Belorybitsa

The whitefish lives in the Caspian Sea. Like many representatives of the salmon species, the whitefish has winter and spring forms. This northern fish of the salmon family, like almost all salmon, is a predator. In the sea it feeds on small species: herring, gobies, as well as crustaceans and insects. During the spawning period in rivers, he eats practically nothing and therefore loses a lot of weight; the fat content in meat during this period does not exceed 2%.

It is one of the most valuable species of fish. Its meat has a very low calorie content. The white fish chooses the Volga River and its tributaries as its spawning site. Reaches a length of more than a meter, weighs from 3 to 14 kg, and average weight females - 8.6 kg, males - 6 kg. The whitefish becomes sexually mature at 6-7 years of age.

Nelma

Nelma is a close relative of the previous species. Habitat - basins of the Ob and Irtysh rivers. It weighs from 3 to 12 kg (there are also larger specimens, weighing up to 30 kg) and length up to 130 cm. Nelma represents the salmon family, the photo in the article shows what it looks like. She has large silvery scales and small caviar. This is a relatively slow growing fish. It reaches sexual maturity at the age of 8 to 18 years, depending on its habitat. The mating outfit during the spawning period does not differ much from the usual one. The mouth of this fish representative is quite large, like a salmon. And nelma is distinguished from both salmon and whitefish. In terms of taste, nelma meat is slightly inferior to white fish meat.

Whitefish

A fairly large subgroup consists of whitefish fish of the salmon family, the list of these species is as follows:

1. Omul.
2. Tugun.
3. Siberian vendace (Ob herring).

The body of whitefish is laterally compressed, and the shape of the jaws depends on nutrition. In nature there are both small representatives of this species (vendice weighs about 400 g) and large individuals (for example, omul weighing more than 3 kg). Interesting fact: after spawning, the omul returns back to its usual habitat - to the lower reaches of the rivers. The meat of whitefish fish is white and tender. Its taste largely depends on the place of catch. The harsher the environment, the tastier the meat.

Far Eastern and Pacific salmon

If we consider the Far Eastern and Pacific representatives of the fish fauna, we can say that the salmon family includes: pink salmon, chum salmon, sockeye salmon, chinook salmon, and coho salmon. The latter is the lowest fat fish - 6%. Because of its appearance, coho salmon are often called silver salmon (in the old days - white fish). It can reach a weight of 14 kg, its length is more than 80 cm. But mostly medium-sized individuals, weighing 7-8 kg, go on sale. Coho salmon spawn later than all salmon - from September to March, sometimes under the ice. During spawning, female and male coho salmon turn a dark crimson color. It lives relatively little in the sea and becomes sexually mature already at 2-3 years. This is the most heat-loving representative of the Pacific salmon. Recently, the number of coho salmon has decreased sharply.

Pink salmon is a fish that is caught for commercial purposes in Far East It ranked first. Its meat has a fat content of about 7.5%. But pink salmon is also the smallest fish of this family, its weight rarely exceeds 2 kg. The length of the individual is about 70 cm. Its body is covered with small scales. In the sea it is painted silver, the tail is covered with small dark spots. In rivers, the color of pink salmon changes: dark spots cover the head and sides. During the spawning period, males grow a hump, their jaws lengthen and curve. Beautiful fish during this period become simply ugly.

Chinook by appearance resembles a large salmon. It is the most valuable and largest fish among the Far Eastern salmon species. The average size of Chinook salmon reaches 90 cm. The back, caudal and dorsal fin are covered with small black spots. In the seas, this type of fish can live from 4 to 7 years. This is a cold-loving representative of the salmon family. All Pacific salmon spawn once in their lives and then die soon after.

Chum salmon

Chum salmon is also a low-fat fish. Despite this, the fat content in the meat is higher than that of pink salmon. It is larger, more common and mass appearance family of Far Eastern salmon fish. It can reach a length of more than 1 meter. Chum salmon are well known for their large, bright orange caviar.

The marine outfit in which the fish of the salmon family is dressed is painted silver and has no stripes or spots. In rivers, the fish changes its color to brownish-yellow with dark crimson stripes. During spawning, the body of chum salmon becomes completely black. The size of the teeth, especially in males, increases. And the meat becomes not at all fatty, whitish and flabby. The fish matures for spawning at 3-5 years of age. Enters Siberian rivers to spawn:

1. Kolyma.
2. Lena.
3. Yanu et al.

Red salmon

Let's consider another genus of Far Eastern representatives, this is a fish of the salmon family - sockeye salmon. It is interesting because the individual caught in the sea is red. Sometimes it is called that - red fish. Its meat has excellent taste. And during spawning it turns white. The size of this representative of the salmon family does not exceed 80 cm, weight on average is from 2 to 4 kg. Sockeye salmon is not as common in our country as pink salmon and chum salmon. It only enters the rivers of Kamchatka, Anadyr, and the rivers of the Kuril Islands.

Red fish are a cold-loving species of salmon. You will not find it in the sea, where the temperature exceeds 2 degrees Celsius. Sockeye salmon caviar is quite small - 4.7 mm, intensely red. The mating costume of sockeye salmon is very impressive: the back and sides are bright red, the head is green, and the fins are blood red. Spawns in lakes and in places where groundwater comes out. Red fish most often become sexually mature at 5-6 years of age. She feeds mainly in the sea crustacean representatives fauna.

Trout

This fish of the salmon family is found in Lakes Onega, Ladoga and other reservoirs of Karelia and the Kola Peninsula; it can also be seen in the basins of the Baltic and White Seas. Trout comes in several varieties:

1. Scottish.
2. Alpine.
3. European.
4. American.
5. River.
6. Ozernaya.
7. Rainbow.

Freshwater fish of the salmon family prefer cold waters with clean and clear water. Lake trout are diverse in color and lifestyle. Representatives of this species of salmon have long been objects of artificial breeding both for hunting and for food. Brook trout is often called pied trout because of its bright color; lake trout has a second name - brown trout.

The pestle grows to a size of 25 cm and weighs up to 500 g. It prefers fast and cold rivers. Spawns in autumn or winter. Lake trout are golden in color with numerous black spots. This species of salmon is much larger than river trout. They reach a length of up to 50 cm and weigh up to 1.5 kg (although some individuals grow up to 8 kg in weight). Lake trout spawns from September to January, depending on the reservoir, either on rivers with a pebble bottom, or in lakes, in places where springs flow. Trout feeds on small fish, insects and larvae, and invertebrate animals. Trout meat is darker in appearance, but just as tasty and tender as that of other salmonids, and in addition, it is also healthy.

Valuable and tasty meat and red caviar have made the salmon family a popular commercial species. Illegal fishing of this fish is reaching large scales. As a result, many species of salmon are listed in the Red Book and are under state protection.

The salmon family includes fish that have one true dorsal fin and one adipose fin. The dorsal fin has from 10 to 16 rays. The second, adipose fin has no rays. In females, the oviducts are rudimentary or absent altogether, so that the maturing eggs fall from the ovary into the body cavity. The intestine has numerous pyloric appendages. Most eyes have transparent eyelids. Salmonids are migratory and freshwater fish northern hemisphere; they live in Europe, Northern Asia (south to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River), in mountain streams of North Africa and in North America. In the southern hemisphere, there are no salmonids, except those acclimatized by humans.

Salmonids are fish that easily change their lifestyle, appearance, and color depending on external conditions. The meat of all salmon tastes excellent, and most of them have become objects of fishing and fish farming. Salmon are one of the most important commercial fish in the world, producing catches of 500-575 thousand tons per year (1965-1967).

There are two subfamilies - salmonids themselves(Salmoninae) and whitefish(Coregoninae). Whitefish differ from salmonids proper in the details of their skull structure; most of them have a relatively small mouth and larger scales than salmon.

Pacific salmon(Oncorhynchus), as the name suggests, live in the Pacific Ocean. Representatives of this genus have from 10 to 16 branched rays in the anal fin, medium-sized or small scales, the eggs are large and colored red-orange. These are migratory fish that spawn in the fresh waters of Asia and North America and feed in the sea. There are 6 well-differentiated species (chum salmon, pink salmon, chinook salmon, red salmon, coho salmon and masu salmon). All Pacific salmon spawn only once in their lives, dying after the first spawning.

Even the discoverer of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Vladimir Atlasov, reported in his “skask”: “And the fish in those rivers in Kamchatka land is marine, of a special breed... And there are a lot of fish from the sea along those rivers, and that fish does not return to the sea, but dies in those rivers and creeks.”

During the marine period of their life, Pacific salmon feed throughout the entire northern part of the Pacific Ocean up to the front of the warm Kuro-Sivo current, including the Sea of ​​Japan, Okhotsk and Bering Sea. At this time, they do not form large clusters and remain in the upper layers (usually up to 10 m depth). Their food is varied; Most often found in the stomachs are small pelagic fish and their juveniles, crustaceans, pelagic pteropods, juvenile squids, worms, and less commonly jellyfish and small ctenophores. The body of salmon at this time is covered with silvery, easily falling scales; there are no teeth on the upper and lower jaws. They spend the winter in the south, in the Kuro-Sivo front zone. With the onset of spring, the ocean comes to life: as soon as the temperature of the upper layers rises, microscopic algae develop abundantly in them, and a variety of pelagic animals rise to the surface and begin to intensively reproduce and grow. This zone of abundant life is moving from the Kuro-Sivo front to the north and northeast as the water warms. Salmon move after her, always staying in a strip rich in food resources. This explains their rapid growth in the sea. Moving for food, Pacific salmon reach the mouths of rivers on the North Pacific coast of the USA, Canada, Alaska and the entire Far Eastern coast of Asia up to South Korea and Japan. Here their herds are separated. Those that do not go to spawn this year, after fattening, with the onset of autumn colder waters, begin their return migration to the south. Sexually mature ones begin their spawning migration - a journey without return, rushing into the rivers where they were born and where they are destined to die after laying eggs. Not a single case of Far Eastern salmon surviving spawning is known, and this is why they differ from all other salmon. It is remarkable that salmon seem to find the river in which they were born. The reasons for this are not fully understood. There are suggestions that in the open sea they navigate by the sun, moon, perhaps bright constellations, and near the banks they “recognize” the water of their “native” river, distinguishing the subtlest features of its chemical composition with the help of the organs of smell and taste. However, this mystery is still awaiting resolution. The appearance of salmon entering rivers changes. They develop a “nuptial outfit”: the body, which was ridged at sea, becomes flattened, and strong hooked teeth appear on the jaws, vomer, palate and tongue. The jaws themselves, especially in males, become curved, a hump grows on the back, the skin becomes thick and rough, and scales grow into it. The silver color disappears, and pigment appears in the skin, turning it black, crimson or lilac-red. In females, the signs of nuptial plumage are less pronounced than in males.

The reasons for the appearance of the marriage plumage have not been studied. Some researchers, according to Charles Darwin’s theory of sexual selection, suggest that the attributes of mating plumage attract females who choose the “most beautiful” male, others see them as adaptations useful for fish in river conditions. There is an opinion that the mating plumage of salmon is an atavistic phenomenon, a return to the ancestral type; This opinion is based on the superficial similarity in body coloring and toothing of the jaws in mature fish and fry. Finally, the possibility cannot be ruled out that mating plumage is due to the side effects of hormones, since during intensive maturation of the gonads, the endocrine glands, especially the pituitary gland, are actively working. The future will show which point of view is closer to the truth.

During migration from river mouths to spawning grounds, salmon do not feed, existing solely on the reserves accumulated in the muscles. They become extremely exhausted during the journey. Climbing 1200 km along the Amur, Ussuri and river. Khor, chum loses more than 75% of the energy accumulated in the sea. The amount of fat in the muscles decreases from 10% to a fraction of a percent, the amount of dry matter also decreases, the meat becomes watery and flabby. The stomach and intestines shrink, the liver stops producing bile, and enzymes that break down proteins are not released by the stomach. All this time, the fish do a huge job, rising upstream in rivers, often stormy, replete with riffles, rapids and waterfalls. It has been established that waterfalls a meter or more in height can be overcome by salmon relatively easily. The record holder in this regard is the Chinook salmon rising along the river. Yukon to Bennett Lake and Caribou Crossing (about 4000 km). Regarding chum salmon, there are calculations showing that the daily energy consumption for males is 25,810 and for females 28,390 calories per kilogram of live weight.

The spawning migration of salmon, with their large numbers, leaves a lasting impression. This is how the first scientist who explored Kamchatka, S.P. Krasheninnikov, described it: “All the fish in Kamchatka go from the sea to the rivers in the summer in such numerous runes that the rivers swell and, emerging from the banks, flow until the evening, until the fish stop enter their mouths." Krasheninnikov's description dates back to 1737-1741, and until the beginning of our century it could not be considered exaggerated. Currently, the number of Pacific salmon has greatly decreased and the spawning run is no longer such a grandiose spectacle.

All Pacific salmon bury fertilized eggs in the ground, so they spawn in places where the bottom is not silted, covered with pebbles or gravel, often where there are underwater springs. The female, accompanied by one or several males, holds her head against the current and scatters the soil with energetic movements of her caudal peduncle. The eggs are laid in the resulting hole, and the male waters them with milt. Continuous skirmishes occur between males during spawning. Some of the eggs remain unfertilized, many are carried away by the current and eaten by freshwater fish. Having spawned, the female fills the hole with pebbles. A mound is formed, under which the eggs develop and the larvae that emerge from the eggs remain until the yolk sac is reabsorbed.

After spawning begins mass death manufacturers. The most exhausted ones die already at the spawning ground, others are carried along by the current and die on the way to the mouth. The bottom and banks of rivers are covered with dead fish (in our Far East they call it snenka). Many crows, seagulls and a wide variety of animals, including bears, gather for this abundant food.

As soon as the yolk sac dissolves, the fry emerge from the mound and swim downstream, feeding on small aquatic invertebrates and insects that have fallen into the water. In some species they do not stay long in the river, in others the river period extends to one or two years. Sometimes some of the males reach maturity in the river, having very small sizes; such dwarf males can take part in spawning. Finally, some species form true residential freshwater forms that do not go out to sea. Similar forms are generally common in the salmon family.

Chum salmon(Oncorhynchus keta) is the most widespread and widespread species of Far Eastern salmon. It differs from other species of this genus in the large number of pyloric appendages (up to 185), the number of gill rakers is 19-25, and the number of gill rays is 12-15. In marine plumage (silver chum salmon) it has a silvery color, without stripes or spots; the bases of the rays of the caudal fin are also silver. In the river, the color changes to brownish-yellow, with dark purple or dark crimson stripes (variegated chum salmon, or half-catfish). By the time of spawning, the body of chum salmon, as well as the palate, tongue and bases of the gill arches become completely black. The teeth, especially in the male, enlarge (chum catfish), and the meat becomes completely lean, whitish and flabby. The chum salmon enters the rivers at the 3-5th year of life. Chum salmon is widespread on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, from San Francisco to the Bering Strait along the American coast and from Providence Bay to Peter the Great Bay and the river. Tumen-Ula - in Asian style. It also enters the rivers of Siberia - Lena, Kolyma, Indigirka and Yana.

There are two forms of chum salmon: summer chum salmon (up to 80 cm in length), entering the rivers from the first days of July to the middle and end of August; it predominates in the northern parts of the Pacific Ocean. Autumn chum salmon (up to 1 m in length, larger and more valuable) predominates in the southern parts of the range. Both forms go to the Amur, rivers of the Ayano-Okhotsk region and Sakhalin. The average length of the running chum salmon on Sakhalin is 61 - 65 cm, weight 2.7-3.3 kg; further north the chum salmon are larger. The autumn chum salmon enters the Amur from the end of August and the beginning of September and ascends the rivers much higher than the summer chum salmon. Often it spawns already under the ice. For spawning grounds, chum salmon choose quiet areas of small rivers, the bottom of which is covered with small pebbles and gravel. In severe winters, spawning grounds often freeze to the bottom and mass death of offspring is observed. Autumn chum salmon suffers less from cold weather, as it prefers to spawn in places where groundwater comes out. The eggs of chum salmon are large, 6.5-9.1 mm in diameter. The eggs are laid in holes knocked out in the ground, after which the female pours a gravel mound over them, up to 2-3 m long and 1.5-2 m wide. The fry that emerge from the eggs emerge from the spawning mounds in the spring and, without stopping in the river, roll into the sea . In chum salmon, the forms that mature in fresh water are unknown. In the rivers of America, sometimes prematurely matured males are found, but they also come into the rivers from the sea.

Pink salmon(Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) is distinguished by small scales. In the sea, its body is painted silver; there are many small dark spots on the caudal fin. In the river, the color changes: dark spots cover the back, sides and head; by the time of spawning, the head and fins become almost black, and the whole body becomes brown, except for the belly, which remains white. The proportions of the body change especially dramatically: males develop a huge hump on their back, their jaws lengthen and curve, and they grow strong teeth. The once slender and beautiful fish becomes ugly.

Pink salmon is a relatively small salmon, it rarely reaches 68 cm in length, but small sizes compensated by mass numbers. It is widespread: along the American coast it enters all rivers, starting from the river. Sacramento in the south, to Alaska. It also enters the Arctic Ocean; pink salmon have been repeatedly recorded entering the Colville and Mackenzie rivers, and along the Asian coast into the Kolyma, Indigirka, Lena and Yana. Along the Asian coast of the Pacific Ocean, pink salmon spawn in rivers flowing into the Bering and Okhotsk Seas; they are also found on the Commander and Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Hokkaido and the northern part of Hondo Island. It goes south to Peter the Great Bay, however, it is difficult to establish the southern border, since pink salmon were often mixed with Sima.

Pink salmon do not rise very high in rivers. Thus, it enters the Amur in large quantities in June and rises to the river. Ussuri. As a rule, pink salmon spawn in places with faster currents, where the bottom is covered with fairly large pebbles. Its caviar is large (5.5-8 mm in diameter), but paler in color and with a shell that is more durable than that of chum salmon eggs. 2-3 months after the death of the parents, fry emerge from the eggs and remain in the mound until spring. In spring they roll into the sea, reaching 3-3.5 cm in length.

In the sea, pink salmon feed actively, and choose more high-calorie food than chum salmon. While chum salmon's food consists of more than 50% pteropods and tunicates, pink salmon prefers small fish, fry (30%) and crustaceans (50%). Therefore, it grows and matures unusually quickly: 18 months after escaping into the sea, it returns to the rivers to lay eggs and die. True, opinions were expressed that a significant part of pink salmon spawn in the third or fourth year of life. However, this is unlikely to be the case. Sea catches have shown that in August only a few individuals remain in the sea, for some reason late in development. Pink salmon, apparently, along with masu salmon, is the most heat-loving species in the genus Oncorhynchus. It winters in those areas of the ocean where the surface temperature does not drop below 5° C. This circumstance, apparently, also contributes to its rapid growth.

Pink salmon catches, as a rule, fluctuate periodically. It has been established that pink salmon enter the rivers of Primorye in greater numbers in odd-numbered years, while in even-numbered years its flow is insignificant. In the Amur and on the western coast of Kamchatka, the opposite picture is observed - most pink salmon are caught in even-numbered years. According to L. S. Berg, this periodicity is well explained by the two-year life cycle. If unfavourable conditions If, for example, freezing of spawning grounds or excessive fishing of spawners, reduce the number of any generation, then after 18 months it, returning to the river, will produce an insignificant amount of caviar, and the consequences of this catastrophe, as L. S. Berg believed, will stretch over a number of generations. This is the simplest explanation for the cyclical nature of catches; there are others, but it is difficult to say whether they are true. It has been noticed that the more intensively pink salmon are caught, the less sharp are the fluctuations in its cyclicity. Along with chum salmon, pink salmon is a popular fishery target. For example, in Kamchatka its catches account for 80% of the total salmon catch.

Pink salmon, like other Pacific salmon, have been repeatedly tried to acclimatize in other places globe, but the successes were insignificant. In 1956, transportation of Sakhalin pink salmon caviar to the rivers of the Murmansk coast began. The hatched fry were released into rivers flowing into the Barents and White Seas. At first, the juveniles died in the new conditions; Only when additional feeding was applied and the already grown juveniles began to be released, in 1960 pink salmon came en masse to the rivers to spawn. In the new place she became much larger and fatter. Some of the pink salmon entered the rivers of Norway to spawn, where they were called “Russian salmon.” But in subsequent years, the approaches of pink salmon in the European north were small. On the other side of the Atlantic, Canadians successfully transplanted pink salmon from the rivers of British Columbia to the Newfoundland area.

The third species of the Far Eastern salmon genus is red or sockeye salmon(Oncorhynchus nerka) - is not as widespread in our country as pink salmon and chum salmon. Along the Asian coast of the Pacific Ocean it enters only the rivers of Kamchatka, Anadyr and, to a lesser extent, the rivers of the Commander and Kuril Islands. Along the American coast it is much more widespread, especially in Alaska, and extends south to California. The red one is a more cold-loving species and is not found in the sea at surface temperatures above 2°C.

It is easily distinguished from other species of the genus Oncorhynchus by its numerous (30-40) densely seated gill rakers. Sockeye salmon meat is not pink, like other salmon, but intensely red in color and has excellent taste. At sea it is silver, and only its back is painted dark blue. The mating plumage is very impressive: the back and sides become bright red, the head is green, and the dorsal and anal fins are painted bloody. There is little black color, common in the breeding plumage of chum salmon and pink salmon; Only in sexually mature males do black spots appear at the end of the caudal fin, and in females sometimes dark transverse stripes appear on the body. However, the color is very variable. In the rivers of Bering Island you can find sockeye salmon of a golden-bronze color. Going to spawn in the river basin. Oly (Tauy Bay of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk) red also does not deserve this name, since its color is greenish and only its belly is slightly pink.

Representatives of this species reach 80 cm in length. S.P. Krasheninnikov noted that “this fish goes mostly to those rivers that flow from lakes.” Indeed, it spawns preferably in lakes, in places where groundwater comes out.

Sockeye salmon caviar is smaller (4.7 mm), intensely red. This fish enters the rivers quite early, in Kamchatka at the end of May - June. Spawning lasts until the end of summer, on Bering Island - until December.

The red juveniles emerge from the eggs in mid-winter, but remain in the mounds until March. Unlike chum and pink salmon, fry live in fresh water for a long time. Most migrate to the sea only the next year after hatching, having reached 7-12 cm in length, some stay for 2 or 3 years, only a few go to sea pastures in the same summer. The red one most often becomes sexually mature at the 5-6th year of life.

In the sea, the redfish feeds mainly on crustaceans. Of all the salmon, she especially prefers the relatively small, but very fatty calanid crustaceans, colored red with carotenoid pigments. These pigments pass from swallowed crustaceans into sockeye salmon meat.

In the r. Large and a number of others in Kamchatka are visited by two forms of red - spring and autumn (summer), the spawning periods of which differ by 15-20 days. A similar late-spawning red in the river. Kamchatka is allocated to a separate form “azabach”. The ability of sockeye salmon to form residential forms that mature in fresh water is remarkable. They are widespread in the lakes of America, and in some cases only males (dwarf, or additional) are noted, but sometimes females also mature. In our country, the resident red one was found in the Kronotsky, Nachikinskoye, Dalny and Nlye lakes of the Kamchatka Peninsula. According to Soviet researchers, the number of the dwarf form can increase so much that it can compete with juveniles of the anadromous form in the fight for food. In years when the ripening of red fish without a stingray in the sea becomes widespread, the salmon economy suffers significant damage, since the dwarf forms are not used by the fishery. In the USA, Canada and Japan, resident redfish are often bred as sport fisheries. In favorable conditions, it can reach 700 g in weight and is a desirable prey for the amateur fisherman.

Chinook(Oncorhynchus tschawytscha) is the largest and most valuable of the Pacific salmon. The average size of running chinook salmon is 90 cm, but there are also significantly larger specimens, reaching more than 50 kg of weight. The taste of Chinook salmon meat has been famous for a long time. S.P. Krasheninnikov wrote: “Of the fish there, there is no similar taste to it. The Kamchadals reverence the declared fish so highly that the first caught fish, after being baked on the fire, is eaten with great joy.” The Americans call the Chinook salmon king salmon, and the Japanese gave it the title of “Prince of Salmon.”

Chinook differs from other salmon in the large (more than 15) number of gill rays. Its back, dorsal and caudal fins are covered with small round black spots. The mating plumage is less pronounced than that of chum salmon, pink salmon and red salmon; only the male becomes blackish during spawning, with red spots.

Like the red Chinook salmon, its distribution gravitates towards the American Pacific coast, where it goes south to California. There is little of it along the Asian coast, although occasionally it enters many rivers from the north of Hokkaido in the south to Anadyr in the north. In our country, Chinook salmon enter the rivers of Kamchatka most of all, and they go to spawn earlier than other salmon, from mid-May. The “great joy” of the Kamchatka aborigines when catching Chinook salmon is understandable: its appearance in the rivers indicated the onset of spring, the end of an often hungry winter. Chinook salmon spawn throughout the summer. The powerful fish is not afraid of fast currents (1-1.5 m/sec) and uses its tail to knock out spawning holes in large pebbles and cobblestones. The female lays up to 14 thousand or larger eggs, like those of chum salmon. The fry that emerge from the eggs remain in the river for quite a long time, like the red fry; some of them, especially males, mature there, reaching a length of 75-175 mm. True residential forms are also found in American rivers. In the Columbia River, Chinook salmon come in two forms—spring and summer. The timing of spawning in these forms is hereditary.

Chinook salmon live in the sea from 4 to 7 years. Like the red one, this is a rather cold-loving species and feeds preferably in the waters of the Bering Sea adjacent to the ridge of the Commander and Aleutian Islands. Chinook salmon feed in the sea mainly on small fish. Due to its rarity, its commercial significance in our country is insignificant.

Coho salmon(Oncorhynchus kisutsch) is similar in distribution to Chinook salmon. Along the American coast, it enters rivers from Monterey Bay to Alaska; along the Asian coast, isolated entries are noted from Anadyr to the rivers of Hokkaido, and only in the rivers of the Kamchatka Peninsula does it spawn in large quantities. Coho salmon is clearly distinguished from other salmon by its bright silvery scales (hence the Japanese and American name “silver salmon” and our old name “white fish”). The tail stalk of coho salmon is tall. The sides of the body are above the lateral line; the back and upper rays of the caudal fin are covered with dark spots. The length of coho salmon reaches 84 cm, the average size is 60 cm. Alaskan coho salmon is slightly larger than Kamchatka salmon.

Coho salmon enter rivers later than other salmon and spawn from early September to March, often under the ice. During spawning, both males and females turn dark crimson. The fry, like those of red and chinook salmon, roll into the sea after one or two years of living in rivers. Coho salmon live short lives in the sea and become sexually mature already in the third year. Coho salmon is the most heat-loving of all Pacific salmon: it winters at a temperature of 5.5-9 ° C, south of pink salmon. Premature maturation of some males in fresh waters was noted; Such dwarf males were previously called “uakchich” by the Kamchadals.

The last species of the genus Oncorhynchus is sima, or mazu(Oncorhynchus masu) is the only Pacific salmon found only along the Asian coast. Sima enters the rivers of Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Hokkaido and Hondo, and goes south along the mainland coast to Fuzan and the river. Tumen-Ula. Outwardly, the masu salmon is somewhat similar to the coho salmon, only its anal fin is more notched and dark transverse stripes run along the body, even in adult fish. Sima reaches 63 cm in length and 6 kg in weight. Its spawning in the Amur and Primorye occurs at the same time as pink salmon, with which it is often mixed. Young masu salmon live in fresh water for up to a year or more; Sims become sexually mature at 3-4 years of age.

The cherry salmon's ability to easily form residential freshwater forms is remarkable. Living Sim highlighted in shape mold sims(morpha formosanus), found in Japan from Hokkaido to Kyushu and on. Taiwan. There is no anadromous form this far to the south, and the living sima is a witness to those times when the sea was much colder. Residential forms can form literally before our eyes - this is what happened in the Japanese Lake Biwa. When on the river A dam was built in Sedanka, near Vladivostok, and the sima living above the dam turned into a residential form.

Genus Real salmon(Salmo) differs from Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus) in having a shorter anal fin containing only 7-10 branched rays, and other characters. The vomer bone in the salmon skull is elongated, and its posterior part in young individuals bears teeth.

During spawning, real salmon acquire a nuptial plumage, like Pacific salmon, but do not die after the first spawning. Salmon are very widespread. These are migratory and resident fish of the northern parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; they are found in the Baltic, Black, Caspian and Aral seas. Residential forms in America and Eurasia are very widespread, reaching in the south to the Mediterranean and the upper reaches of the Euphrates; they are not found only throughout Siberia.

Noble salmon, or salmon(Salmo salar) is the most famous species. This large, beautiful fish reaches one and a half meters in length and 39 kg in weight. The body of the salmon is covered with small silvery scales; there are no spots below the lateral line. Salmon in the sea feed on small fish and crustaceans; entering rivers to spawn, it stops feeding and loses a lot of weight. The mating plumage is expressed in the darkening of the body and the appearance of red and orange spots on the sides of the body and head. In males, the jaws lengthen and curve; a hook-shaped protrusion is formed on the upper jaw, which fits into a notch on the lower jaw.

Salmon's feeding grounds are the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean. From here it enters the rivers of Europe to spawn from Portugal in the south to the White Sea and the river. Kara in the north. Along the American coast it is distributed from the river. Connecticut in the south to Greenland in the north. There are several species of the genus Salmo in the Pacific basin, but they are few in number compared to the Pacific salmon of the genus Oncorhynchus. Previously, salmon was extremely numerous in all rivers of Europe where there were suitable spawning grounds. Walter Scott mentions the times when Scottish farmhands, when hired to work, stipulated that they should not be fed salmon too often. Hydraulic construction, river pollution from household and factory waste, and mainly overfishing have led to the fact that this condition is now easy to satisfy. The number of salmon has now sharply decreased, and to maintain the herd, artificial breeding is widely used in special fish hatcheries.

The passage of salmon into rivers is quite complicated. In our rivers flowing into the Barents and White Seas, large autumn salmon run from August until freezing. Her reproductive products are very poorly developed. The course is interrupted with the onset of winter. Some of the autumn salmon that did not have time to enter the rivers overwinter in the estuarine areas and enter the river immediately after the ice drift (mid-end of May). This kind of salmon is called “ice salmon”. Autumn salmon spends a year in the river without feeding, and only the following autumn comes to the spawning grounds. It seems that this form requires a period of rest when low temperature. Our leading ichthyologist L. S. Berg called this form winter by analogy with winter cereals. Following the freezing season, in June, the “finished” salmon enter the rivers, mainly large females, with already significantly developed reproductive products. In July, it is replaced by summer salmon, or “low water,” whose eggs and milt are well developed. The closing and low-water periods reach the spawning grounds and lay eggs in the same autumn. This is the spring form. Along with the low water period, “tinda” enter the rivers - small (45-53 cm in length and 1-2 kg in weight) males that mature in the sea in one year. Many (sometimes up to 50%) male salmon do not go to sea at all. They mature in the river and have mature milt already at a length of 10 cm, so females predominate among autumn salmon, ice-water and low water. In some rivers, along with autumn salmon, there is a “deciduous salmon” - a small form similar to tinda, but among which there are also females. After being at sea for only one year, she returns to spawn and spawns in the same autumn, without needing a rest period. Here on the Kola Peninsula and in the White Sea basin, salmon runs are compressed into 4-5 summer months and are interrupted by freeze-up. A different picture in the rivers Western Europe. There, the run stretches throughout the whole year: salmon, corresponding to our autumn salmon and ice, goes to the Rhine in November, closing and low water - in May, Tinda - in July. In Norway the summer season predominates; Apparently, the same can be said about salmon from the American coast.

We present only a general diagram of the spawning run of noble salmon. Each individual river has its own characteristics, and it is simply impossible to list them.

Apparently, the winter form of salmon cannot turn into the spring form, and vice versa. Likewise, it is unknown whether spring and winter salmon can develop from the eggs of one female.

Salmon spawn in the fall (September - October) in the north and in winter in more southern areas. The female digs a large (up to 2-3 m long) hole in the sand and pebble soil and buries the fertilized eggs into it. This is how the subtle observer Fritsch describes the spawning of salmon: “The female lies down in a hole, resting her head on a stone at the edge of it. In the evening or early in the morning, a male swims up to her and stops, holding his head near her genital opening. As soon as the female, irritated by the presence of the male, releases some eggs, he rushes forward, touching her with his side, and releases milk. Then he stops about 1 m in front of the female and gradually releases a stream of milk onto the eggs, which now flow out of the female in a stream; the latter at the same time, with lateral movements of its tail, throws sand and pebbles at the eggs.” Spawned salmon swim downstream, emaciated from a long hunger strike, wounded, with frayed fins. Some of them, especially the males, die from exhaustion, but those who reach the sea again acquire a silvery color, begin to feed and regain strength. Although death after spawning is not necessary for noble salmon, like chum salmon and pink salmon, rare fish spawn again. A single case of five-time spawning was noted. The more developed fishing is in the river, the lower the percentage of re-spawning fish.

The water temperature at salmon spawning grounds in winter does not exceed 6° C, so eggs develop slowly. Only in May do the young hatch from the eggs and then live in fresh water for a long time. Young salmon are not similar to adult fish and were previously even described as a separate species. These are lively and active fish, variegated in color, with dark transverse stripes on the sides, with a dark back covered with brown and red round spots. In the north, they are called “pargers”.

Parrs feed in rivers on caddisfly larvae, crustaceans, and insects that have fallen into the water. They descend very slowly towards the mouths. After 1-5 years, having reached a size of 9-18 cm in length, they go to sea. At this time, their dark stripes and spots disappear and their body becomes covered with silvery scales. This transformation is often called smoltification from the accepted English name for the silvery stage - “smolt”.

But not all parr swim to the mouth and turn into smolts. A significant part of them remains on spawning grounds and matures there. These are the dwarf males already mentioned. They take part in the spawning of fish that come from the sea, when the main male, standing next to the female, begins to drive away large rivals. Females need to migrate to sea to mature; They, as a rule, do not ripen in rivers. But if a female at the smolt stage is transplanted into a pond and provided with plenty of food, then she can eventually be brought to maturity.

In the sea, salmon grow extremely quickly. If in 3 years of life in the river the parr grows by 10 cm, then in one year of life in the sea it adds 23-24 cm (data for the Ponoi River).

Salmon is a fast and strong fish and can undertake quite long journeys. So, on August 10, 1935 in the river. Vyg caught salmon tagged with a Norwegian tag on June 10 of the same year off Trondheimsfjord. In other words, she swam 2500 km in 50 days at an average speed of 50 km per day!

In large northern lakes (Lake Vener, lakes of Labrador, here in Ladoga and Onega and a number of others) there is a special lake form of salmon - lake salmon(S. salar morpha sebago).

This form does not go to the sea, but feeds in the lake and goes to the rivers flowing into the lake to spawn. Lake salmon are usually smaller than migratory salmon and more spotted, with spots on the sides and below the lateral line. The origin of the lake form will become clear if we remember that the lakes in which it is found are, as a rule, bays separated from the sea. Often other sea inhabitants live in them - the four-horned slingshot (Muohosephalus quadricornis) and brackish-water crustaceans. But in general, the tendency to form residential forms in noble salmon is much less than in a closely related species, brown trout.

Brown trout(Salmo trutta), called taimen salmon in the Baltic Sea, is clearly distinguishable from salmon in color. The body of the brown trout, both above and below the lateral line, is covered with numerous black spots, often shaped like the letter x. There are round spots on the sides of the head and dorsal fin. The mating plumage is less pronounced than that of salmon: the jaws are curved and elongated less strongly, and pinkish round spots appear on the body of males.

Like salmon, brown trout is a migratory fish. It is included in the rivers of Europe from the Iberian Peninsula in the south to Pechora in the north. It is also found in the White, Baltic, Black and Aral seas. There were no brown trout in America before human acclimatization there; the westernmost point of its natural distribution is Iceland.

The usual sizes of brown trout are up to 30-70 cm in length and 1-5 kg ​​in weight, but sometimes up to 12-13 kg. Like salmon, it is a valuable commercial fish.

It is quite difficult to describe the lifestyle of brown trout, since this species is unusually changeable. It can spawn in the upper reaches of rivers like noble salmon, but sometimes spawning occurs in small tributaries, lower reaches and cold-water lakes. Trout are more attached to fresh water and, apparently, do not make large migrations to the sea, sticking to the estuary areas. The stomachs of brown trout caught at sea contain small fish (gerbil, juvenile herring and smelt, stickleback) and large crustaceans. It has been noticed that trout going to spawn continue to feed, although less intensely, which salmon never does. Juvenile brown trout are very similar to parr salmon and spend 3 to 7 years in fresh water. Basin trout Baltic Sea usually leaves fresh water earlier (in the second or third year of life). Rolled into the sea (with a length of 20 cm), in 4 years sea ​​life trout usually reach 50-60 cm. In other words, they grow more slowly than salmon. There are observations that brown trout rise from the sea to rivers for the winter. Like salmon, brown trout have spring and winter forms.

Brown trout living in Black and Seas of Azov, forms a special subspecies - Black Sea salmon(Salmo trutta labrax), differing from the typical form by a large number of gill rakers and a high caudal peduncle. The color of Black Sea salmon varies: sometimes the black spots characteristic of brown trout may be completely absent. This subspecies has recently become quite rare. Into the rivers Black Sea coast it enters to spawn in the spring (late April - early May), in the Sukhumi region starting in February. Spawning occurs in winter. Black Sea trout are larger than typical (usually 7 kg, rarely up to 24 kg).

Apparently, when the Caspian Sea was connected to the Sea of ​​Azov, brown trout entered it, eventually forming a new subspecies - Caspian salmon(Salmo trutta caspius). In the Caspian Sea it is called Caspian salmon or simply salmon. Caspian salmon is similar to both Black Sea salmon and salmon. It is distinguished by a lower caudal peduncle. This is apparently the largest salmon in Europe: there are known cases of catching fish weighing 33 and even 51 kg! For a long time, the similarity with salmon led taxonomists to consider Caspian salmon a subspecies of salmon. Only recently it was established that, based on the structural features of the embryo in the egg and the number of chromosomes, this is a strongly deviated form of brown trout.

Caspian salmon enters rivers mainly on the western shore to spawn, most of them in the Kura, less often in the Terek, Araks, and Lenkoranka. It enters the largest river of the Caspian Sea - the Volga in single specimens. But this was not always the case: in the archives there are indications that in the 17th century. Salmon was caught in commercial quantities near Kazan and entered the Kama, Belaya and Oka rivers. The high palatability of the meat of this form quickly led to its overfishing, and the change in the nature of the Volga flow practically became the reason for the complete disappearance of the Volga herd. Now only in the Kura there is a spawning stock that can serve as a commercial target. Caspian salmon is bred artificially in a number of fish hatcheries.

Caspian salmon also has spring and winter forms. The spring form enters the Kura in October with almost mature sexual products, rises relatively low along the river and spawns in the same year. This is a relatively small salmon (up to 12 kg). The large winter form goes to spawn from November to February (usually in December - January). Her reproductive products are poorly developed, the average weight is up to 15 kg, and she rises very high, to the source of the Aragvi. Now that hydroelectric dams have blocked salmon from reaching Aragvi, they spawn in the Alazani and Temple basins. From 8 to 11 months, winter salmon mature in the river. Juveniles live in the river for up to two years. Similar seasonal forms were also found in salmon entering other rivers (Samur, Terek).

The easternmost form of migratory brown trout is Aral salmon(Salmo trutta aralensis), inhabiting the Aral Sea and rising to spawn in the Amu Darya. This subspecies is close to the Caspian, but differs in a smaller number of vertebrae and a larger head. Its length is up to 1 m, weight up to 13-14 kg. Very little is known about the lifestyle of this small form.

We have already mentioned that trout, more closely than salmon, are attached to fresh water. Wherever there is an anadromous form, as well as where it existed during periods of colder climates, there are lake and stream forms of brown trout that mature without going to sea. They are called trout.

lake trout(Salmo trutta m. lacustris) lives in cold lakes with clean, clear water. Lake trout spawn in fast, rapids rivers flowing into the lake. As a rule, it is smaller than the migratory brown trout, although sometimes, for example in Lake Ladoga, its weight can reach 8-10 kg. During feeding, the coloration of lake trout resembles that of brown trout. The mating plumage is very bright: the silver color of the sides of the body and belly is replaced by dark gray in females, orange stripes and bright spots appear in males, the dorsal fins darken, and the ventral fins of males become orange or bright pink.

Lake trout are found in lakes in the northwest of our country. It is also found in a number of lakes in Finland, Sweden, and Norway. The Black Sea and Caspian subspecies of trout also form lake forms, very diverse in color and lifestyle. There are currently no anadromous trout in the Mediterranean Sea, but lake trout, often reaching large sizes, live in the cold lakes of the Alps and the Balkans. They were often described as independent species and subspecies. There are lake trout in Transcaucasia (lake Chaldir-Gel, Taparavan, Ritsa, Eizenam and many others). Particularly interesting are the trout of the large Lake Ohrid, located on the border between Yugoslavia and Albania. It contains two forms. One of them, large, predatory, reaching 10 kg in weight, was isolated in separate species - summer girl(Salmo letnica). The second - a small, silvery fish that feeds on plankton - has changed so much that it had to be separated into a special genus with one species - Belvitsa(Salmothymus ochridanus). It is remarkable that the juveniles of both forms are practically indistinguishable from each other. A similar picture is observed in our Dagestan Lake Eisenam. Two forms live there - one, small, surprisingly brightly colored: on the sides of the body there are large red and small black spots, the dorsal fin is black-spotted and the adipose fin is red-spotted; it reaches a length of 34, usually 24-25 cm and feeds on plankton and pond mollusks. But another form lives in the same lake, deeper-sea, larger, dark-colored and leading a predatory lifestyle. The Eisenam trout show the way in which the Ohrid trout may have originated. Lake Ohrid is much older than Lake Eisenam (it is not without reason called the Balkan Baikal), and the degree of divergence of forms is much greater.

Lake trout rise from lakes to rivers to spawn and lay large (up to 5 mm), orange eggs on rifts with a pebble bottom. They bury their eggs, like brown trout and salmon, in mounds. The juveniles emerging from the eggs turn into parr and roll into the lake; but a significant part of the juveniles mature in rivers and streams, down to the smallest ones, turning into brook or common trout(Salmo trutta morpha fario).

Brook trout are small fish (usually 25-35 cm in length and 200-500 g in weight, extremely rarely up to 2 kg), very brightly colored. The back of brook trout is dark, the belly is white or golden-yellow, small spots are scattered on the sides and fins - black, orange and red, often surrounded by a light rim. It has been noticed that the color of brook trout depends on the color of the water and the soil of the reservoirs. Dimensions and weight are also determined by environmental conditions. The larger the stream in which the trout lives, the more food it contains - small crustaceans and insect larvae - the larger the size it can reach. Trout also feed on insects that have fallen into the water; large ones can feed on small fish (minnows, sculpin gobies) and tadpoles of frogs. In general, in its lifestyle, brook trout resembles a parr, which is what it essentially is. This is a parr that reaches maturity in a stream.

Brook trout are very widespread. They are found everywhere where there are migratory and lake trout, and, except for dough, in mountain streams of the Mediterranean (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Spain, Portugal, France, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Amu Darya). These fish remain here from a time when the Mediterranean climate was much colder and migratory brown trout could live there. A similar phenomenon was noted for Pacific salmon (genus Oncorhynchus), where the residential form of the masu salmon lives in the mountain streams of the island. Taiwan, and the tropical warm sea surrounding Taiwan does not contain the original anadromous form of this species.

Brook trout have no commercial significance. Small, low-food, fast-flowing rivers, as a rule, cannot feed a large population that could become the object of significant fishing. But trout is an excellent object for amateur fishing with a fishing rod. Most often it is caught with a worm, small fish and an artificial fly. Larger lake trout do well on spinning rods. Brook and lake trout, as well as anadromous brown trout, have long been objects of artificial breeding. At first, trout were only introduced into those streams and lakes where they had not been found before; where living conditions were suitable, the results were good; very soon they switched from acclimatization to artificial breeding. For this purpose, artificially fertilized eggs are buried in the pebble soil of the river, just as fish do in nature. More often, special wooden boxes are used to lay eggs or they are incubated in fish hatcheries in special apparatus. The fry emerging from the eggs, after their yolk sac has resolved, are fed with live small crustaceans, as well as cheap animal products ground into a pulp (spleen, heart, liver, brain). When young trout grow up, they can be fed cottage cheese, meat, fish and frogs, blood and bone meal. Trouts that have reached 5-10 g in weight are released into natural reservoirs, and recently their rearing for up to 2-3 years in special nursery ponds has become widespread. With abundant feeding, you can get 50 quintals or more per hectare of pond annually. It is curious that if trout is fed with crustaceans, the carotenoid pigment astaxanthin contained in them passes into the trout meat, turning it pink; with a different diet, the meat remains white.

Acclimatization and breeding changed views on the taxonomy of brown trout and brown trout. Previously, they were considered separate groups. Linnaeus, for example, identified brook and lake trout as special species. But brook trout transported to New Zealand, rolled into the sea and turned into a migratory brown trout. It can now be considered proven that anadromous brown trout, lake trout and brook trout easily transition into each other. Trout sometimes migrate to the estuarine areas of the Adriatic and Mediterranean seas, as if trying to move into a passing form. Trout released into the Baltic Sea easily acquire a silver color, grow quickly and return to spawn as brown trout. Where there are anadromous and residential forms, they form a single herd, spawning together. In the population of migratory brown trout, females predominate; the lack of males is compensated by brook trout, where the latter predominate. It is not difficult to understand why this happens: in salmon, like in most other fish, males mature earlier than females (at a smaller size), and therefore their period of life in the sea can be shortened and even disappear completely.

The third species of the salmon genus is ishkhan, in Armenian “prince” (Salmo ischchan), lives in Lake Sevan, where it forms several forms. Baer also wrote that the trout of Sevan “are completely different from the trout with cinnabar-red spots found in all the rivers of Europe... These species spawn at different times of the year, so that one begins in October and continues in November, followed by spawning caviar of a different breed, etc. throughout the winter until the beginning of May.” At Ishkhan's upper jaw does not extend beyond the posterior edge of the eye, pyloric appendages 50-90, gill rakers club-shaped. During the feeding period, fish of this species are silvery-white, with a steel-colored back. There are few dark spots, and they are never o-shaped, like those of the kumsha. During spawning, males darken, their fins become almost black and 2-3 red spots appear on the sides of the body. In females, the mating plumage is poorly expressed. Ishkhan spawns in the lake itself, at a depth of 0.5-3 l, on fine gravel. Sexually mature individuals of this form are called bahtak or winter bahtak. There are 2 known herds: one spawns in November - December, the other - from mid-January to the end of March. The main food of the ishkhan is amphipods. This relatively large fish (up to 15 kg in weight, often about 30 cm in length and 300-400 g) is highly valued and is the object of significant fishing. The form, known as the summer bakhtak, spawns in the spring and summer in the Bakhtak-chai and Gedak-bulakh rivers, as well as in the estuary areas of the lake. Bojack, a smaller (up to 35 cm) form, also spawns in the lake at a depth of 1 m in October - November. Finally, there is a true pass-through form - Gegharkuni, similar to lake trout. To spawn, gegarkuni goes to rivers in breeding plumage (lilac-pink spots) and with well-developed reproductive products. Gegharkuni spawns in winter. There are indications that there is also a winter form in Sevan. Some of the young Gegharkuni do not slide into the lake, turning into brook trout, called alabalah and a trout form very similar to the stream form.

In 1929, Soviet scientists M.A. Fortunatov and L.V. Arnoldi suggested that Gegharkuni would take root well in the large Kyrgyz Lake Issyk-Kul. Caviar was transported in 1930, 1935 and 1936. Gegharkuni began to multiply in the river. Ton with the tributaries Aksai and Karasu, which flow into Issyk-Kul. Its growth in the new place has increased: if in Sevan it is extremely rare to come across individuals 60 cm long and 4 “g in weight, then in Issyk-Kul this form reaches 89 cm in length and 10 kg in weight. The growth rate and fatness of the gegarkuni have increased by no less than one and a half times, which is explained by the transition to carnivorous feeding: 82% of the food of the Issyk-Kul form consists of small fish, most often loaches (genus Nemachilus). The body proportions and coloring have changed: the Issyk-Kul Gegarkuni is densely covered with brown spots of a jagged-round, semi-cruciform or ring shape. The violet and lilac tones characteristic of Sevan trout have disappeared. It is remarkable that in a new place the gegharkuni can also turn into a residential river form, which does not slide into the lake and is different from both the alabalakh and the parent form.

The example of gegarkuni acclimatization once again shows how flexible and changeable salmon are and how easily they adapt to changed living conditions.

Throughout Siberia there are no representatives of the genus Salmo. They appear only on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, where special species live in rivers along the Asian and American shores, which are classified as a special subgenus (Parasalmo). We also have two such species in Kamchatka.

Kamchatka salmon(Salmo penshinensis) has been studied relatively little. The first descriptors of the fauna of Kamchatka, Krasheninnikov and Steller, knew about it, distinguishing it from Pacific salmon, and it was according to their data that Kamchatka salmon was described by Pallas. After this, until 1930, it did not fall into the hands of ichthyologists, and their very existence began to be doubted. It has now been established that Kamchatka salmon goes to spawn in the rivers of the western coast of Kamchatka, and in smaller numbers it enters the rivers of the eastern coast and the Okhotsk coast. There was one case of its capture in the Amur Estuary. This is a fairly large (up to 96 cm) silvery fish, with a few dark spots above the lateral line, a faint pink stripe on the sides of the body and pinkish gill covers. The mating plumage is very unique: the stripe turns bright red. The way of life at sea is completely unknown. Kamchatka salmon enters rivers from September to November, spends the winter in the river and spawns in the spring. Spawned fish roll into the sea in May - June. Regarding the second Kamchatka species - mykiss (Salmo mykiss) - there is an assumption that this is not an independent species, but only a residential form of Kamchatka salmon. Mykizha lives in the rivers of Kamchatka (Bolshaya, Bystraya, Tigil, Kamchatka River, and in Penzhin), as if it does not go out to sea, with the exception of the estuary spaces. It has a very bright color. The longitudinal red stripe on the sides of the body persists outside of spawning time. There are many o-shaped and round dark spots on the body and fins, the ventral fins are bright red. Sizes up to 90 cm.

One of these two species was found on the island. Bering in the river flowing from Lake Sarannoy. By all accounts, the Kamchatka noble salmon (genus Salmo) are very close, if not identical, to the American species of this genus.

In addition to salmon and human-acclimatized brown trout, North and Central America are home to their own specific species of salmon, the number of which is difficult to determine. American taxonomists of the 19th - early 20th centuries. described more than 30 species of the genus Salmo, of which only two are currently recognized by most researchers as independent.

Steelhead salmon(Salmo gairdneri; steelhead trout, rainbow trout) is a fairly large (up to 115 cm) fish with a metallic blue back and silvery sides. There are dark spots above the lateral line; Males have a red stripe on the sides of their bodies during spawning. Steelhead salmon feed in the waters of the Pacific Ocean for two years and enter rivers from California to Alaska at 3-5 years of age. Spawns in late winter or spring. Juveniles migrate to the sea in the 1st or 2nd year of life and can undertake long sea voyages, during which they feed on crustaceans, small fish and squid. Steelhead salmon also form residential forms similar to lake and brook trout. They are very diverse and have been repeatedly described as independent species. Due to their bright and variegated colors, the residential forms are called rainbow trouts. One of these forms, previously described under the name rainbow trout(Salmo irideus), has become the object of pond fish farming and is widely bred in many countries; we also have similar farms. The history of acclimatization of rainbow trout in South America. On the border of Peru and Bolivia, at an altitude of 3812 m above sea level, there is a huge (222 km long, 1 km wide) Lake Titicaca. There are practically no commercial fish in it, so in 1939 several species of residential salmon were brought there. All of them reached previously unheard of sizes, the rainbow trout was ahead of everyone (122 cm in length and 22.7 kg in weight). This case is very reminiscent of the acclimatization of Gegharkuni in Lake Issyk-Kul.

Currently, many researchers consider Kamchatka salmon and steelhead to be one species, and mykiss to be the Kamchatka analogue of rainbow trout.

Second American species - Clark's salmon(Salmo clarkii) appears to be to steelhead as brown trout is to salmon. It is more attached to fresh waters, does not go far from the estuary areas and spawns not in large channels, but in small channels. Clark's salmon differs from steelhead in having a longer head, its back is greenish-blue, its sides are silvery, and there are numerous black spots without a light border on the body, fins and head. The throat usually has clear red spots, hence its English name "cutthroattrout". But this sign is unreliable - the spots may be yellow or disappear completely; on the other hand, if rainbow trout are kept on a special diet, they develop a similar coloration. The other criteria by which they were separated are equally unreliable; nevertheless it is good views, since they differ in the number of chromosomes and almost never interbreed in nature. This species is distributed from Mexico to Alaska. The migratory form reaches 76 cm in length and spawns from December to May. Juveniles live 2-3 years in fresh water, in the sea - a year or more. Like steelhead salmon, this species forms many residential forms, extremely diverse in lifestyle, size, color and other characteristics. The residential form from the lakes of the Yellowstone Nature Reserve is well known. Some researchers compare Clark's salmon with Kamchatka mykiss.

Nothing definite can yet be said about other American “species” of salmon. In all likelihood, if there are independent species among them, it is very few. All other forms indicate only the extraordinary plasticity of salmon fish.

Representatives Goltsy family(Salvelinus) are close to salmon of the genus Salmo. They differ from salmon in the absence of teeth on the handle of the opener. With the exception of one species living in America, loaches never have dark spots on their bodies, so characteristic of real salmon. Loaches are widespread and extremely diverse in their morphology and lifestyle.

The central species of the genus should be considered arctic char(Salvelinus alpinus). It is distributed very widely: the habitat of the anadromous form covers the entire Arctic Circle in a ring. Migratory char go to spawn in the rivers of Iceland, Norway, Murman, Spitsbergen, Novaya Zemlya, along the coast of Siberia in the Ob, Yenisei, Pyasina, rivers of Canada, Alaska and Greenland. This distribution is called circumpolar. Residential forms - relics of the Ice Age, go much further south: they are found in Alpine lakes, the Baikal basin and rivers flowing into Peter the Great Bay. There is also char in the Pacific Ocean, where it is called malma. In the Pacific basin, it is found along the Asian and American coasts to the Amur and California. Throughout its huge range, it inhabits a wide variety of water bodies and forms many forms: anadromous, lake-river and lacustrine. Dwarf males are also known from him.

Migratory loaches are large, up to 88 cm in length and 15 kg in weight, silver-colored fish with a dark blue back, their sides covered with rather large light spots. Entering rivers, they darken, the back becomes greenish-brown, the sides brownish, with a silvery tint and numerous red or orange spots. The belly is usually gray-white and only in spawning char is bright red or orange, the throat is white or orange, the pectoral, pelvic and anal fins are pink or red, with the exception of the front rays, which are usually milky white. Migratory char spawns in autumn and early winter; some fish probably in the spring. In some reservoirs, char spawning is very extended. In the r. In the square and in the rivers of Novaya Zemlya, spring and winter races have been recorded for char. Spawning occurs in shallow, fast springs, rivers and lakes on rocky pebble soil, near the shore, in places with relatively slow currents, at a depth of 13 to 46 cm. Like other salmon fish, the char makes a nest and buries eggs in the ground. Fish are distributed throughout the reservoir, choosing areas covered with fine gravel. At this time, they are very aggressive and defend their territory, attacking every object, especially those painted red. The loaches are then divided into pairs. The males jump at each other like roosters, with their fins protruding and their mouths gaping intimidatingly. At this time, females dig nests with sharp oscillatory movements of their tail. The female gives the signal for spawning: having dug a hole, she stops over it and trembles, releasing a portion of eggs. At the same time, the male releases milk. It is remarkable that the coloration, especially in males, changes dramatically. The cells containing dark pigment on the sides, back and head are apparently under the control of the nervous system. When the male circles around the female, the dark pigment is concentrated in the form of two longitudinal stripes on the sides of the body and one transverse stripe on the head between the eyes, the rest of the body becomes almost white, except for the fiery red belly. Having spawned several portions of orange eggs, the female buries them and begins to build a new nest. Males are polygamous and can spawn with several females in turn. It is interesting that, having laid eggs, the female continues to dig unnecessary holes for some time, and often, together with the male, eats the newly laid eggs. At the same time, she defends her spawning area for several days, energetically driving away other fish. Spawning can occur both day and night. Along with one large male, small, dwarf ones also take part in spawning. Loaches begin to spawn for the first time at the age of 5-6 years; their spawning, apparently, is not annual. The young spend 2-4 years in the river, after which they slide into the sea. But the char does not go far into the sea and stays mainly in the estuarine spaces, in the area of ​​the river in which it was born. The duration of his stay at sea, as a rule, does not exceed 2-3 months. Anadromous char is a predator that consumes juveniles of other fish and small fish.

Not all char go to sea. A significant part of them spawn in lakes and streams, and fatten in large rivers Oh. Lake-river charr are smaller than anadromous ones (35-45 cm) and differ in a number of morphological characteristics. They feed mainly on bottom mollusks and insect larvae.

Lake forms of Arctic char are also widespread. They spawn and feed in lakes without going beyond their boundaries. The taxonomy of lake char is extremely confusing, since many forms have been described as independent species. Currently, many ichthyologists believe that most lake charr are derived from one or a few species. However, it is possible that, living in an isolated lake, the char population may turn into a separate species, as happened with the Sevan trout - ishkhan. Lake charr of the Alps, Scotland, Scandinavia and our north are called palia. They were considered a special species - Salvelinus lepechini.

Palia very varied in color. They are darker than anadromous loaches, the belly is pink, the anterior rays of the paired fins and anal fins and the lower ray of the caudal fin are white. The sides are usually covered with yellowish and orange spots. Some forms are almost black in color. In Lakes Ladoga and Onega, two forms of palia are distinguished: Ludozhnaya(red) and ridge(gray). Ludozhnaya palia is darker, stays at a shallower depth, spawns in autumn on luds and sands and reaches 5-7 kg in weight. The ridge, or pit, palia is lighter in color, lives at a depth of 70-150 m, can spawn in the spring, and usually weighs up to 2 kg. In some deep-sea alpine lakes, palia also split into a number of forms: there in one lake you can catch “ordinary” palia, small ones that feed on plankton, sometimes with a silvery coloration, and large, dark-colored ones that live at great depths and lead a predatory lifestyle.

Many lake forms of char are described as independent species and subspecies from the lakes of Siberia. Of these, the Danish people should be mentioned. Davatchan, or "red fish", lives in Lake Frolikha and the river of the same name, which flows into the northeastern part of Lake Baikal. Sometimes it is found in the nearby part of Lake Baikal. The range of the davatchan lies far south of the main range of Arctic char; Apparently, this is a relic of ice age.

The second remarkable form, perhaps worthy of being identified as a separate species, was described as Dryagina's loach(Salvelinus drjagini) from the Norilsk Lakes. Similar loaches live in the neighboring Khantaysky Lake (Yenisei basin). Among these char there are forms with extremely pronounced nuptial plumage, which makes them similar to Far Eastern salmon. These are tall-bodied fish with a bright, fiery red body color. Their back is dark, the front rays of paired fins are snow-white, and lower jaw greatly elongates and bends.

Various forms of char live in the lakes of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Thus, Dalny Lake is home to a large predatory form that feeds mainly on sticklebacks. The mating plumage is very bright: the loaches are painted an intense yellow-orange color, with bright pink-red spots on the sides. Others have pinkish sides and an orange-red belly. During the feeding period, individuals of this form have a greenish-gray back, silvery-pink sides with a few, rather large pink spots, and a white belly. The proportions of the body have changed due to the predatory way of life: the body is thick, ridged, the fins are shifted towards the tail. These loaches, like pike, grab prey with a quick, short throw. There are very unique loaches in Kronotsky Lake. S.P. Krasheninnikov wrote about their merits as follows: “In this lake there is a lot of fish, loaches or dollyfish, as they call it in Okhotsk, which, however, is very different from the sea, because it is larger in size and has a more pleasant taste. It tastes very much like ham and is sold all over Kamchatka as a pleasant treat.” It is possible that there are two groups of char in this lake: fast-growing and slow-growing with fall and spring spawning.

In the streams and rivers of the Kuril Islands, Japan, in Primorye to Korea, living small Dolly Varden (char) is known, rarely reaching 32 cm. Its body is covered with numerous small red spots. In appearance and lifestyle, it is very similar to brook trout, with which it is often mixed.

Wherever char live in significant numbers, their local fishery is developed. In Kamchatka, for example, they are hunted in the spring, during the period of migration into the sea, when there is no mass move Pacific salmon. In some reservoirs, loaches are serious pests that eat the eggs and juveniles of Pacific salmon. However, in some cases their harm is greatly exaggerated. During the spawning of chum or pink salmon, the stomachs of the loaches are filled with caviar, but this caviar is mostly washed out of the nests by the current and is still doomed to death. Rather, we can consider the loaches as a kind of orderlies, destroying everything unnecessary in the reservoir. In addition, in some lakes, predatory forms of char feed on stickleback, a competitor to juvenile salmon. If we take into account that the char themselves are valuable fisheries, then the benefits from them outweigh the possible minor harm.

The second undoubted species of char living within Soviet Union, - kunja(Salvelinus leucomaenis) (not to be confused with brown trout!). This species differs from Arctic char in having a smaller number of gill rakers (16-18, in small specimens - 12). Kunja has a different color: there are no red and dark spots, instead of them there are large light spots scattered throughout the body. The kunja lives in the Pacific Ocean from Penzhina, the Commander Islands and Kamchatka to Japan. It is also found on the Kuril and Shantar Islands, along the entire Okhotsk coast and in the Amur. Kunja is an anadromous char; its residential forms have not been found anywhere except Lake Shikotshu on the island of Hokkaido. This rather large (up to 76 cm in length) fish leads a predatory lifestyle, feeding both in the sea and in fresh waters. Its main food is small fish (gerbil, smelt, stickleback, minnow, goby), as well as freshwater shrimp and large larvae of aquatic insects. Spawning mainly occurs in August - September.

Another species of loach lives in the rivers of North America - American char or American palia(Salvelinus fontinalis), - belongs to a special subgenus (Baione). In its way of life, this char is extremely similar to the Arctic char. It also forms anadromous, lacustrine, lacustrine and stream forms. It differs somewhat in the nature of its coloring: on its back and sides it has light, irregular shape, worm-like spots absent in other representatives of this genus. Otherwise, its coloration resembles that of the Arctic char (S. alpinus). At sea the color is silvery, in the river the back darkens from faint to dark greenish blue, and in some cases becomes black; During spawning, the spots become intensely orange, the fins turn red, and their outer rays remain white. The color of brook char is very bright, having bright orange spots and belly and dark transverse stripes on the sides of the body. American char has long been the object of acclimatization and artificial breeding in America itself; it is also bred in Europe.

Closely related to North American loaches cristometer(Cristivomer namaycush) is so unique that it is classified into a special genus based on the structure of the vomer and the number of pyloric appendages. It is colored similar to American char, but lives only in lakes. Americans incorrectly call it lake trout. Experiments on artificial crossing have shown that hybrids of American char (S. fontinalis) with Arctic char (S. alpinus) are easy to obtain, but with cristivomere it is difficult, and only the first generation is fertile. Apparently, there are two morphologically different forms of cristivomere: living near the surface and living at depth. Spawning occurs in the coastal rocky part of lakes in autumn. Christivomers are slow-growing and late-maturing fish. Large, up to 1 m, North American cristivomers, living up to 22-23 years, are a very valuable commercial object in the USA and Canada.

Taimen(Hucho) are similar to loaches, but their teeth on the vomer bone form a continuous arched stripe with the palatine teeth. The head of taimen is flattened laterally and somewhat resembles that of a pike, and on the body there are o-shaped black spots, like some salmon. Taimen are inhabitants of the rivers of Eurasia. There are 4 known species.

Danube taimen(Hucho hucho) lives in the Danube and Prut basin from the headwaters to the mouth, but never goes to sea. This rather rare fish can reach significant sizes (usually 2-3, rarely 10-12 kg; the literature describes a case of catching a specimen weighing 52 kg). Danube taimen (also called Danube salmon) is a predator that feeds on small fish. It spawns in the spring, usually in April, on pebble soils.

Common taimen(Hucho taimen) differs from the Danube in a smaller number (11-12) of gill rakers. Small specimens have 8-10 dark transverse stripes on the sides of the body; small o-shaped and semi-lunar dark spots are common. During spawning, the body is copper-red. Taimen can reach 1.5 m and weigh more than 60 kg. Taimen is very widespread - it can be caught in all Siberian rivers, up to the Indigirka. It is found both in the Amur basin and in large lakes (Norilsk, Lake Zaisan, Teletskoye and Baikal). In Europe, cases of catching taimen were recorded for the Kama, Vyatka, from where it reached the middle Volga, and also Pechora. Taimen never goes to sea; it prefers fast, mountain and taiga rivers and clean, cold-water lakes. It spawns in May in small channels. This large and beautiful fish is a desirable catch for the amateur fisherman. The only anadromous species in the genus taimen is Sakhalin taimen, or lentil(Hucho regrii). Chevitsa differs from ordinary taimen in having larger scales. It lives in the Sea of ​​Japan, from where in spring and summer it enters the rivers of Hokkaido, Sakhalin and our Primorye to spawn. In the south, in the river. Yalu (Korea), replaced by a close residential view - Korean taimen(Hucho ischikawai). Sakhalin taimen reaches more than 1 m in length and 25-30 kg in weight. Its meat is very tasty and fatty. In the sea, the color of the lentil is silvery; in the river, the body acquires a reddish tint, like that of an ordinary taimen, and 5-8 light crimson transverse stripes are formed on the sides. Like other taimen, lentil feeds mainly on small fish.

Lenok(Brachymystax lenok) is the only species of its genus that resembles whitefish more than other salmonids. Its mouth is relatively small, like a whitefish. The eggs are also quite small. Lenok grows relatively slowly and extremely rarely reaches 8 kg in weight; usually it is much smaller (2-3 kg in the 12th year of life). The color of the lenok is dark brown or blackish, with a golden tint. The sides, dorsal and caudal fins are covered with small rounded dark spots; during the spawning period large copper-red spots appear on the sides. Lenok does not go to sea. It lives in Siberian rivers from the Ob to the Kolyma, it is also found in the Far East, in the Amur and all rivers flowing into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the Sea of ​​Japan, and goes south to Korea. Like taimen, lenok is a voracious predator. Large lenkas, in addition to small fish, can eat frogs and mice swimming across rivers. It also eats large bottom invertebrates - larvae of stoneflies, caddisflies and mayflies. Like ordinary taimen, lenok is an object of recreational fishing.

White fish, or nelma(Stenodus), already belong to the subfamily of whitefishes. One widespread species in this genus is nelma(Stenodus leucichthys nelma). Like whitefish, nelma has rather large, silvery scales and small caviar; The nuptial plumage is poorly expressed. But the mouth of the nelma is large, like that of salmon, and the features of the skull distinguish it from both salmon and whitefish.

Nelma is a large fish, up to 130 cm in length and 30-35 kg in weight. Its fatty meat is very tasty. This species lives in northern rivers - from the Ponoi and Onega in the west to the Yukon and Mackenzie rivers in the east. The habitat of nelma resembles in this respect the habitat of Arctic char, but, unlike char, which easily forms lake forms, nelma prefers rivers to lakes. Only in a few lakes is nelma found in significant quantities (Lake Zaisan, Norilsk, Kubenskoye Lake in the Northern Dvina basin). This fish does not like salt water and, when going out to sea, sticks to the desalinated estuarine areas of the Arctic Ocean and the northeastern part of the Bering Sea. A significant part of our herd of nelma spends its entire life in the great Siberian rivers, migrating from the mouth to the upper reaches. The timing of the migration of nelma in different rivers varies greatly: usually it begins to move upward while still under the ice and proceeds with greater or less intensity throughout the summer. It was noted that towards the end of the run there are fish with immature gonads, which clearly do not have time to spawn this year (spawning in late September - October). These fish must spend a year in the river before spawning; they correspond to the winter form of salmon. Nelma is a relatively slow-growing fish. In the Yenisei she reaches sexual maturity in the 8-10th year, in Pechora - in the 13th year, in Kolyma - in the 11th - 14th year, in the Ob - in the 14-18th year (males mature somewhat earlier). Therefore, nelma populations are easily overfished. Natural hybrids of nelma with different types of whitefish have been found in a number of rivers (Lena, Anadyr).

A form very close to nelma - whitefish(Stenodus leucichthys) - lives in the Caspian Sea basin. Apparently, the whitefish came to the Caspian Sea from the north. There was no direct communication between the Caspian Sea and the Arctic Ocean, but the upper reaches of the Volga and its tributaries are very close to the upper reaches of rivers flowing into the Arctic basin. At the end of the Ice Age, huge lakes formed on watersheds, leaving behind thick layers of characteristic bottom sediments - ribbon clays. The water flowed from them to the north and south; In this way, the now interrupted and restored only by human hands (Volga-Baltic and White Sea-Baltic canals) connection between the basins of the two seas arose. This is how the salmon, which became the whitefish, and a number of cold-water crustaceans - mysids, gammarids, and calyanids - got into the Caspian Sea. The whitefish fed in the Caspian Sea, making regular migrations. In winter it concentrated in the northern part, in summer it went to the southern part, which was deeper and less heated at depth. For spawning, it entered mainly the Volga, rarely into the Urals, and in single individuals into the Terek. The main movement to the Volga began in September, and its height was in the middle of winter (December, January and February). Previously, the whitefish reached along the Volga to Uglich, along the Oka to Ryazan and Kaluga, but the main spawning grounds were along the river. Ufa. The white fish grows faster than the nelma, matures in the 6-7th year and manages to spawn no more than twice in its life. Therefore, its size is smaller than nelma (up to 110 barely and 20 kg of weight, on average the weight of females is 8.6 kg, males - 6 kg). White fish, like nelma, is a predator and in the sea feeds intensively on small fish: herring, juvenile roach, silverside and gobies. She eats nothing in the river, and the fat content of her meat decreases from 21 to 2%. Like nelma, whitefish has spring and winter forms. The white fish population, which has greatly thinned out after the construction of dams on the Volga, is supported only by the insignificant spawning areas of the river. Ural, since single individuals that passed all the obstacles to the river. Ufa, cannot play a significant role in replenishing the herd.

Sigi(genus Coregonus) among the entire salmon family, apparently the most numerous, the most variable and the most unstudied genus. This includes fish with a somewhat laterally compressed body and a relatively small mouth. Often the upper jaw is shorter than the lower jaw, in such cases the mouth looks upward. Whitefish with such an upper mouth feed on plankton, mainly small crustaceans that live in the water column. Sometimes the jaws are the same length - such a mouth is called terminal, as it is located at the end of the snout. The head of a whitefish with a terminal mouth resembles the head of a herring, which is why they are often popularly called herrings (Pereslavl herring, Obskaya herring, Sosvinskaya herring, etc.), but the presence of an adipose fin immediately identifies them as salmonids. Whitefish, which feed on organisms that live on the bottom, have a lower mouth - the upper jaw is much longer than the lower one. The coloring of whitefish is more modest than that of salmon: the body is covered with large silvery scales without bright colored spots. The wedding attire is also modest; Only males, very rarely females, and some whitefish develop comb-like and tuberculate outgrowths on their scales and heads. Whitefish eggs are small, yellow, and the female does not bury them in the ground.

Despite the fact that the fatty and tasty meat of whitefish has long been highly valued by people and they are objects of intensive fishing, it is still unclear how many species and forms of whitefish live in our lakes and rivers. The reason lies in their variability, which is extraordinary even for the salmon family. Almost whitefish from any lake can be distinguished into a special form based on structural features, growth and nutrition rates, and other aspects of their lifestyle. Thus, in 1932, 20 forms were distinguished in one type of whitefish; in 1948 there were already 57 of these forms, and 43 forms were indicated for the lakes of Karelia alone! American ichthyologists also described many species of whitefish from water bodies in the USA and Canada. Fortunately, this period is already ending. Thus, whitefish from the lakes of Switzerland, where there were more than a dozen of them, were reduced to one species; the same revaluation is taking place both here and in America.

The smallest whitefish living in the lakes of the Baltic Sea basin, in Karelia and in the Murmansk region, in the lakes of the upper Volga, west to Denmark, belong to the species European vendace(Coregonus albula). The size of vendace is no more than 30-40 cm, weight, as an exception, up to 1200 g, usually much less. Some forms of vendace mature, reaching barely 8 cm in length and 4-4.5 g in weight. This is a slender, agile fish with a green back and silvery sides and belly. In some lakes there are vendaces of a golden-pink color. The vendace has an upper mouth, and it feeds mainly on plankton. Together with smelt and bleak, vendace consumes a significant part of the plankton of lakes. Although it is primarily a lake species, a significant population of vendace lives in the Gulf of Finland, from where it enters the Neva to spawn and spawns in Lake Ladoga. The entire variety of forms of European vendace can be divided into three large groups:

A typical, medium-sized form that matures en masse in the 2nd year of life (males sometimes in the 1st, and females in the 3rd). Dimensions about 16 cm and weight 25-50 g (maximum up to 130 g). Vendace rarely lives more than 4-5 years. It spawns in late autumn and early winter, often already under the ice, on hard sandy or rocky ground. It has been noted that this form prefers lakes with medium depths.

The large form of vendace, which matures in the third year of life, with dimensions of 17-21 cm and weight of 50-90 g, is called ripus, on Lake Onega - keel. Ripus live for at least 6-7 years and reach 200-400 g, extremely rarely 1 kg or more. They inhabit deep, cold-water lakes. Ladoga ripus in the spring, when the plankton biomass is low, switches to feeding on small fish (smelt). It can be distinguished from the common vendace that lives with it by the development of its reproductive products: a fifteen-gram vendace already has well-developed gonads, while in the ripus they are barely noticeable. The Onega kilets, reaching 34 cm in length and 460 g of weight (on average 100 g), lives at a depth of 15 meters or more and feeds mainly on benthic mysid crustaceans. A similar form is described from the Mecklenburg Lake Lucin, it lives at depths of up to 58 m, and if it is pulled to the surface, the swim bladder inflates its belly, like a real deep-sea fish.

In our country, rhipuses serve as objects of breeding and acclimatization and have been successfully introduced into a number of lakes, for example in the Ural lakes. It is known that the growth rate of ripus depends on nutrition. If juvenile ripus is fed with chironomids (bloodworms), it reaches 53 g of weight in a year, and with planktonic feeding - only 16 g. In three years, the Ladoga ripus, moved to Lake Shartash, reaches 300 g of weight.

Large (up to 300 g) and fatty vendace from Lake Pereslavl (“Pereslavl herring”) was awarded the Tsar’s decree in 1675. Concerned about the state of its reserves, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich wrote to the Pereslavl governor: “And if by your oversight, fishermen will learn to catch herring with frequent nets, and we, the great sovereign, will know about it, or small herring will appear in our household and at the auction, and you will get it from us.” the great sovereign to be in disgrace, and the headman and fishermen in death penalty" Apparently, such drastic measures had an effect.

In small, low-nutrient, swampy lakes with acidic water (such reservoirs are called dystrophic), vendace degenerates into a small form that matures in the 2-3rd year, weighing 10-15 g. She lives only 3-4 years.

In the reservoirs of the Arctic Ocean basin, from the White Sea to Alaska, another species lives - Siberian vendace(Coregonus sardinella). It differs from the European one in that its dorsal fin is slightly shifted forward. Unlike the previous species, which prefers lakes, the Siberian vendace is mainly River fish, migrating up the river. It often feeds in desalinated estuarine areas. However, it is also found in lakes, for example in Beloozero, and in the Sheksna and Volga system there is a special form of it, indicating the former connections of this lake with the White Sea basin. Siberian vendace can reach over 40 cm in length and over 500 g in weight. In many Siberian rivers it is the object of significant fishing; it is often incorrectly called herring. Like the European vendace, the Siberian vendace has large forms similar to ripus. They feed mainly not on plankton, but on large crustaceans - sea cockroaches, mysids, and often juvenile fish. They catch vendace in the rivers of Siberia, mainly during its spawning run. It goes all summer and spawns before the freeze-up; often the spawning ends under the ice. The eggs are laid on the sand at a shallow depth (1-1.5 m) and are not buried by the female. There is an assumption that the eggs can freeze into ice without losing their viability.

The third type of our whitefish - tugun(Coregonus tugun), incorrectly called on the river. Obi is a “sovinskaya herring”; it differs from vendaces in having a terminal mouth with jaws of equal length, a body more rounded in cross-section and a wide back. It reaches 20 cm in length and inhabits the rivers of Siberia from the Ob to Khatanga, without going to sea, and (with rare exceptions) does not live in lakes. Along the Yenisei it reaches the Angara. Tugun is a typical river fish; it feeds on crustaceans and insects that have fallen into the water. It also grabs insects swarming above the surface of the water. Like vendace, it spawns in late autumn. Tugun is characterized by early sexual maturity; in the river Tom, he matures in the 2nd year of life. In many Siberian rivers it is found in commercial quantities.

Mentioned in songs (“omul barrel”) and glorified by gastronomes omul(Coregonus autumnalis) in our minds is associated with Baikal. This is not entirely true: only its subspecies lives in Baikal. The omul itself is a migratory fish. It feeds in the coastal parts of the Arctic Ocean and goes to spawn in rivers from the Velta (next to the west of Pechora) to the rivers of Alaska and Northern Canada. Like the tugun, the omul has a terminal mouth, but more (up to 51) gill rakers. This large (up to 64 cm in length and 3 kg in weight) fish is fished in all Siberian rivers, with the exception of the Ob, which for some reason does not enter, although it is present in the Ob Bay. There are summer (June - July) and autumn runs of the omul. The fish that enter the river mature late and spawn the following year. Fishermen are good at distinguishing sea omul from those that have lingered in the river: sea omul is much fattier, its insides are literally filled with fat, and its intestines are completely empty. The omul feeds in the sea on large crustaceans - amphipods, mysids; juvenile gobies, whitefish fry, smelt, polar cod. Finding itself in places with a high concentration of plankton, the omul switches to feeding on planktonic crustaceans. Like other whitefish, it spawns in the fall. Its natural crosses with other types of whitefish - muksun and pyzhyan - are not uncommon.

Baikal omul(Coregonus autumnalis migratorius) feeds in the vast expanses of Lake Baikal, where its food is mainly small crustaceans - epishuras. It has been established that omul feeds on epishura if its concentration is not lower than 30-35 thousand crustaceans per cubic meter of water. When there is a lack of basic food, it switches to feeding on pelagic amphipods and juveniles of the wonderful Baikal fish - golomyankas. Omul is a large whitefish, weighing over 7 kg. In September, the Baikal omul enters the rivers, preparing for spawning. There are three races of omul: 1) Angara (spawning in the upper Angara, Kicher, Barguzin), the most early-ripening and slow-growing, maturing at the age of 5-6 years; 2) Selenga (spawning in the Selenga, Bolshaya and other rivers of the eastern coast), fast-growing and maturing at 7-8 years; 3) Chivyrkuiskaya (Bolshoi and Maly Chivyrkui rivers). This race starts spawning later than everyone else (from mid-October) and, like the Selenga race, grows quickly. The omul finishes spawning already during freeze-up, when slush floats across the spawning grounds. After spawning, it migrates to Baikal, where it winters at great depths (300 m or more). Intensive fishing for this fish has significantly reduced its reserves, so now artificial breeding is resorted to to maintain the herd.

Omul inhabiting the river. Penzhina, which flows into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, stands out as a special species - Penzhinsky omul(Coregonus subautumnalis). Almost nothing is known about its lifestyle; apparently, it is some kind of evasive form of the common omul.

Peled, or cheese(Coregonus peled), is easily distinguished from other whitefish by its terminal mouth, the upper jaw of which is only slightly longer than the lower jaw, and a large number of gill rakers (49-68). The color of the peled is darker than other whitefish; there are small black dots on the head and dorsal fin. Peled is a tall-bodied fish, sharply different from the elongated, runaway vendace, tugun and omul. Peled sizes are up to 40-55 cm, weight up to 2.5-3 kg, less often 4-5 kg. Peled inhabits lakes and rivers in northern Eurasia - from Mezen in the west to Kolyma in the east. It does not go out to sea, only occasionally being caught in the slightly salty water of Kara Bay. If the omul is an anadromous whitefish, and the tugun is mainly river, then the peled can be called lake. As a rule, it avoids flowing waters, concentrating in flood lakes, oxbow lakes, and channels. Peled also spawn in lakes. These features have made peled a desirable object for acclimatization in small lakes of pond fish farming. Recently, lakes in the north-west of our country, which previously had no fish except small non-commercial perch, have been stocked with peled. Peled has three forms: a relatively fast-growing river form, which lives in rivers and flood lakes and matures in the 3rd year of life; the usual lake form, which does not leave the lakes in which it was born, and the dwarf lake form, with suppressed growth, living in small lakes poor in food organisms. The latter rarely reaches 500 g in weight, as a rule, it is much smaller. Like other whitefish, peled spawns in the fall, often already under the ice.

In the lower and middle reaches of the Amur, in Zeya, Ussuri, Lake Khanka, the Amur Estuary and lakes of Sakhalin it lives Ussuri whitefish(Coregonus ussuriensis). Its mouth, like that of the peled, is finite, the upper jaw barely protrudes above the lower jaw, and there are from 25 to 30 gill rakers. The Ussuri whitefish does not avoid salt water. It prefers cold lakes and tributaries. Its length rarely reaches 50 cm. The Ussuri whitefish feeds on small fish and larvae of aquatic insects. In the Amur it is one of the important fishing grounds.

Chir, or shchukur (Coregonus nasus), feeds mostly on bottom insects and mollusks. His mouth is lower, the upper jaw protrudes forward. The broadhead's head is small, with a humpbacked snout and small eyes; gill rakers 19-25; The color is dark, with silvery-yellow stripes on the scales on the sides of the body. Whitefish reaches quite large sizes: in Kolyma, individuals up to 16 kg have been caught, but usually much less - 2-4 kg. It inhabits lakes and rivers of the Arctic Ocean basin from Pechora to Cape Shelag in America, and is found in the rivers of Canada. It is also found in the Anadyr and Penzhina rivers, which flow into the Bering and Okhotsk Seas. Whitefish prefer to feed in lakes, but spawn in rivers in October - November, from the moment the first ice appears. sea ​​water chir, as a rule, avoids. In different places of its range, the broad whitefish is subject to significant variability. Like other whitefish, it is hunted in many of our Siberian rivers.

Passing whitefish(Coregonus lavaretus) is particularly variable. This species is divided into many forms, similar only in the lower position of the mouth and a larger head than that of the white broad with a less humpbacked snout. The number of gill rakers can vary from 15 to 60, they can be smooth or serrated; the body can be high or low, elongated. These whitefish can be migratory, river or lake, large or small, they can feed on bottom planktonic organisms and be predators. Not surprisingly, many forms of whitefish have been described, often without sufficient substantiation. Recently, the opinion has become increasingly widespread that there is one species, C. lavaretus, anadromous, distributed circumpolarly - from the Murmansk coast to Alaska and the north of Canada (American whitefish, apparently identical to this species, was distinguished as the species C. clupeaformis - herring whitefish). Whitefish extremely easily forms residential lake-river and lake forms, the number of which is much greater than the number of migratory whitefish, and they are distributed much more widely, reaching south to the lakes of Switzerland. It is apparently impractical to crush this species, since most forms transform into each other extremely easily. In general, wherever whitefish live, they fall into two forms, often living together. This is a few-stamen form (up to 30 gill rakers), feeding on benthos and small fish, and a multi-stamen form (more than 30 gill rakers), consuming mainly plankton. These two forms were found in our lakes on the Kola Peninsula, in Finland, Scandinavia and Switzerland. Each of them originates from the corresponding multi- and few-stamen forms of anadromous whitefish. The multistamen and few-stamen forms, in all likelihood, cannot transform into each other. This is evidenced by the experience carried out by our fish farmers, who moved multi-stamened anadromous whitefish and small-stamened whitefish from Lake Peipsi to Lake Sevan. siga-ludogu. In the new place, the number of gill rakers in the first form decreased from 39 to 36, and in the second it increased from 23-24 to 25-26. This is explained by the fact that forms that previously ate different foods in Sevan began to consume the same object - amphipods; however, the few-stamened whitefish did not become multi-stamened, and vice versa.

Numerous forms of residential freshwater whitefish in Europe are descended from anadromous whitefish feeding in the Baltic and North Seas. The small-stanched form goes to the Neva, Daugava, Neman, Vistula, as well as the rivers of Denmark, Sweden and Finland. The multistamen form (Pallas whitefish) leads a similar lifestyle. Currently, the number of migratory whitefish is negligible, and unlike lake whitefish, they have no commercial significance. A number of forms have been described for Lakes Ladoga and Onega. Particularly curious Sig-Valaamka, or ridge (pit) whitefish. It lives in Lake Ladoga at depths of more than 50 m, so when it is pulled to the surface, its belly swells. The same deep-sea forms are known from the deep lakes of Switzerland.

Whitefish from the lakes of our North-West were repeatedly transported at the caviar or fry stage to other reservoirs (Lake Sevan, Turgoyak, Sinara, etc.) - In a number of cases, the transplants were very successful. Peipus whitefish successfully transported to Japan.

In the Arctic Ocean basin, starting from Murmansk and the White Sea, forms of a special subspecies of migratory whitefish are common. This whitefish(Coregonus lavaretus pidschian). Pyzhyan belongs to the few-stamened whitefish and differs from the typical form by its higher caudal peduncle. The rivers and lakes of the Kola Peninsula are inhabited by the multi-stamened typical whitefish and the few-stamened (less than 30 stamens) whitefish. “Marine”, i.e. migratory, the pyzhyan lives only in the Barents and White Seas. Further to the east, in the Kara, Ob, rivers of Siberia from the Yenisei to the Lena, in Kolyma and Anadyr, various semi-anadromous whitefish live, which do not go into the ocean. All of them are derivatives of the migratory pyzhyan that once existed there.

Whitefishes also live in lakes. Special forms have been described for Lake Teletskoye in the Ob and Baikal basins. Two forms live in Baikal. One of them, the Baikal whitefish (C. lavaretus baicalensis), spawning in the lake, occupies the middle place between the forms known to us in terms of the number of stamens (25-33), so it is unclear which form it should be classified as. The second Baikal form is the Barguzin whitefish, which enters the river for spawning. Barguzin, in terms of the number of gill rakers, is close to the pyzhyan. Baikal whitefish are characterized by rapid growth.

The whitefish inhabiting Shilka, Argun, Amur and Ussuri has been identified as a special species - sig-hadar(S. chadary). It differs from the Pyzhyan in the shape of its head and small black spots on the head and back.

There are even more stamens than in the multistamen form of the anadromous whitefish (C. lavaretus). muksuna(C. muksun), having from 44 to 72 stamens. This is a semi-anadromous whitefish, feeding in the desalinated coastal waters of the Arctic Ocean, from where it goes to spawn in the Kara, Ob, Yenisei, Lena and Kolyma, without, however, rising high. Muksun in the sea feeds on amphipods, mysids and sea cockroaches. Occasionally it reaches more than 13 kg of weight, its usual weight is 1-2 kg. Spawns in October - November before freeze-up, on rifts with flagstone and pebble bottoms. Muksun is one of the most important commercial fish in Siberia; its catches are measured in tens of thousands of centners. Lake forms of muksun living in the Norilsk lakes have also been described.

Along with some of our whitefish, which have a circumpolar distribution and live, in addition to our waters, in the waters of Alaska and Northern Canada, North America also has its own specific species belonging to a special subgenus Prosopium. Of the representatives of this subgenus, we have one species - whitefish, or skate(C. cylindraceus). The body of the roller is rounded and valval in cross-section, which is why it got its name. Juveniles have distinct dark spots on their sides and back. Valek reaches 42 cm in length. We live in the rivers of Siberia, from the right tributaries of the Yenisei to the Kolyma. American Valek(C. cylindraceus quadrilateralis), characterized by a smaller number of scales in the lateral line and gill rakers, also lives in our rivers flowing into the Okhotsk (Penzhina, Kukhtui, Okhota) and the Bering Sea (Anadyr, rivers of the Koryak land). American roller is very widespread - from Alaska to the Great Lakes and New England - distributed on the American continent. The commercial value of the windrow is insignificant. During the spawning of chum salmon, the American jack can eat its eggs, as do loaches, lenok and other freshwater fish.

Animal life: in 6 volumes. - M.: Enlightenment. Edited by professors N.A. Gladkov, A.V. Mikheev. Wikipedia - (Salmo salar) see also SALMON FAMILY (SALMONIDAE) Immature Atlantic salmon in appearance is not much different from Pacific salmon in the same physiological state, although its anal fin is slightly... ... Pisces of Russia. Directory

Pink salmon- (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) see also FAMILY SALMONID (SALMONIDAE) Immature pink salmon have a low, slender body with a weakly cut caudal fin, covered with numerous small, easily falling scales. Dorsal and anal... ... Pisces of Russia. Directory

salmon photo in water

Salmon according to Wikipedia

Salmon (lat. Salmoninae) is a subfamily of fish from the salmon family of the same name (lat. Salmonidae).

They have features common to the entire salmon family. They differ from graylings by having a shorter and smaller dorsal fin, which contains from 10 to 16 rays. They have a brighter color than whitefish.

The commonly used names in everyday life “salmon” and “trout”, contrary to the stereotype, do not correspond to any type of fish. These are collective names of either an entire family or subfamily (typical of the name “salmon”), or a large group of species united by one property (trout).

Actually, salmon is considered to be salmon in general, or salmon during spawning. On the other hand, the term “salmon” is present in the name of more than a dozen different species of fish from different subfamilies, as well as in the name of two genera - Noble salmon and Pacific salmon.

The same situation is observed with the Latin names - salmo (salmon) and trutta (trout).

Scientific classification is also difficult. Due to the variability and wide distribution of species of the salmon family, scientists have developed both different classifications (see Salmonidae) and different names (in addition to national ones, including purely scientific Latin synonyms) for the same species of this family. Moreover, the same Latin (scientific) name in different classifications can correspond to different species.

We figured out the general features. Let's now learn a little more about the life of salmon. The website russiansalmon.ru has excellent information on this matter.

How do salmon live?

What biological features allowed salmon to become what it is now - a symbol of pristine nature and a standard of gourmet food and, at the same time, a fish with an uncertain and alarming future? The ancestors of salmon once lived only in fresh waters, but then began to go out into the ocean to feed. Thus, salmon take advantage of both fresh waters, where young fish can grow up in conditions where they have few enemies, and the sea, where there is much more food. Conditions in the sea and river are very different, so salmon change greatly during their lives, as if living several lives.

The first phase of their life begins, like all other fish, with eggs, which are laid in late summer or autumn in pebble mounds in flowing water in shallow water. Salmon caviar is very large - with a diameter of 3-4 to 7-8 mm, and develops in the cold season at low temperatures. Therefore, development continues for a very long time and the young usually hatch only after several months. Young salmon spend the first months in the same place where they were born - in gravel nests, leaving them only in the spring. All this time they feed on substances stored in eggs and emerge from the nests large and well prepared for independent life. This is why salmon caviar is so nutritious and tasty. A large number of nutrients in salmon caviar - another important adaptation.

Young salmon stay near the bottom behind rocks and feed on aquatic invertebrates, insects that have fallen into the water, and everything that swims by. The fish are colored so as to be invisible to predators - with spots that match the color of the bottom, which is why at this time they are often called parr. After the parrs have grown, they migrate to the lower reaches of the river and acquire a silvery color and dark back, characteristic of pelagic fish. If you look at such a fish from below, it merges with the light sky, and if from above, it merges with the dark water. Their body becomes more arrow-shaped, capable of fast and far swimming, and they acquire the ability to live in salt water. All this is salmon adaptation to life in the ocean. During this period they are called smolts. And this is the beginning of the second phase in the life of salmon.

Smolts go out to sea and initially stay in estuaries near the mouths of their native rivers, feeding on coastal plankton and benthos. The very first days and weeks of their life in the ocean are also the most dangerous, since here young salmon are encountered by numerous marine predators. At sea, salmon gradually migrate to feeding grounds, which are located in the most productive zones - in the north of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In these areas, salmon born in different rivers and even on different continents gather together. Salmon grow very quickly, becoming less accessible to predators, and gradually become predators themselves. At the same time, along with fish, which plays an increasingly important role in the diet of salmon, they also feed on smaller food - shrimp and krill, which contain the pigment astaxanthin. This pigment passes from food into salmon muscles and gives their meat a red color. The salmon with the reddest meat, sockeye salmon, also called “red”, feeds on shrimp to a greater extent than other salmon.

The third and final phase of salmon life begins with their return to the rivers. Most often, salmon return to the river in which they were born. This phenomenon is called “homing” (from English word"house"). It is still not entirely clear how exactly salmon find their home river. Their ability to remember undoubtedly plays a certain role here. chemical composition water. Moreover, only young salmon – smolts – that are ready for sea migration have this ability. If a parr that was born and lived for several years in one river is transplanted to another, where it becomes a smolt and goes out into the ocean, then it will return to the second river when it becomes an adult salmon. However, returning to one’s native river is not an absolute rule, as many believe. Yes, this cannot be an absolute rule - otherwise salmon would not be able to spread.

During the salmon spawning season, the Adams River is flooded with scarlet fish. The key to the successful development of life on the planet is the constancy that reigns in nature.

We know much less about the marine period of salmon life than about the river life. But in last years More and more data began to accumulate indicating that the marine period is very important from the point of view of the formation of the number of generations of salmon. The living conditions of salmon in the sea are more constant than in the river, so any changes in them can greatly affect the state of salmon populations. This is especially important now when the climate is changing rapidly. Most likely, climate change is responsible, at least in part, for a further decline in the number of Atlantic salmon and an increase in the number of Pacific salmon.

The salmon that return to the river change greatly. Their body loses its silver color, acquiring bright colors, it becomes taller, and in males it is often hunchbacked. This gave the name to one of the species – pink salmon. Salmon jaws become hook-shaped, teeth become larger, and the meat becomes less elastic and fatty and, accordingly, less valuable. For example, at the beginning of migration, the fat content of Amur chum salmon is approximately 10%, and at the spawning grounds it is a fraction of a percent. Their tall bodies and large teeth help salmon defend their spawning territory from both their own and other species. Salmon do not feed in the river. And the fact that they are caught in the river using bait is connected only with the instincts of a predator and defender of the territory.

Salmon spawning is the final and most important chord of their life, because it primarily determines how many offspring the individual and the population as a whole will leave - and this is the most important characteristic of the success of the life of any living organism. Therefore, nothing is spared for this. And salmon uncompromisingly follow this law - many of them give all their strength during spawning and die soon after it. This fully applies not only to all Pacific salmon, but to a large extent also to Atlantic salmon, although many of the spawned Atlantic salmon manage to slide into the sea, a significant number of them still die after spawning. A female Atlantic salmon is known to have spawned five times, but this is not the rule, but the exception. The fertility of salmon is small compared to other fish - on average from 1,500 to 7,000 thousand eggs, but adult salmon take care of the eggs, laying them in holes and then covering them with gravel, which protects the eggs from being eaten, and at first they even guard the nests.

The life cycle described above is only the most general outline of the life of salmon. Different species, different populations within a species, and even different individuals within the same population can implement many variations in life strategies. And this ability to vary - another manifestation of the ability of salmon to adapt to different conditions - largely leads to the success of salmon as a group.

The simplest life cycle is observed in pink salmon. After spawning in August-September, the eggs and fry develop for several months, emerge from the nests in April-May, and just a few days later slide into the sea, returning the following summer. Thus, all fish returning to spawn are two years old. This is the simplest cycle among salmon. However, it is not the most primitive, quite the opposite - it is the most specialized, and the most successful from a biological point of view. This is evidenced by the fact that pink salmon is the most numerous, but also the smallest species of Pacific salmon, its weight does not exceed 1.5 - 2 kg. In addition to pink salmon, chum salmon spend very little time (days, weeks) in the river. For all other salmon, the river period lasts at least a year, and sometimes it can take two, three or even five years before the fish enter the ocean.

Many species of salmon have so-called dwarf forms, most often males, which mature in the river and look like parrs, almost no different in size. They spawn together with large individuals that come from the ocean and, although migrant males drive them away when fertilizing the eggs, often the dwarf males manage to fertilize quite a lot of eggs. Most likely, the presence of dwarf males is an adaptation of the population in an attempt to avoid increased mortality in the ocean. Therefore, it is the males, who require less food than females for maturation, who implement this strategy. At the same time, dwarf males, living in different conditions than migrating individuals and being subject to other selection factors, are carriers of other genes. Therefore, their presence in a population increases its genetic diversity. Sometimes the entire population - both males and females - consists of individuals that spend their entire lives in the river and do not reach large sizes - for example, brook trout, which are the residential form of brown trout. There are also lake forms of salmon that spawn in the river and fatten in lakes, where feeding conditions are usually more favorable. Lake salmon are found, for example, in Lakes Onega and Lake Ladoga.

The high species diversity of salmon in the Pacific Ocean allows them to efficiently use available resources. For example, pink salmon, whose life is more connected with the sea than other salmon, spawns in the lower reaches of rivers and streams. It quickly reaches its spawning grounds and does not need large energy reserves for this, and the juveniles quickly slide into the sea after hatching. Therefore, pink salmon does not need to be large in size and have large caviar. And the largest Pacific salmon - Chinook salmon, which Americans call king salmon, usually spawns in the very upper reaches of rivers, for which it requires large reserves of energy and, accordingly, large size. Therefore, Chinook salmon spend up to 7 years at sea and during this time reach a weight of 60 kg. They often enter rivers earlier than other salmon because they take longer to reach their spawning grounds, and juvenile Chinook salmon spend more time in the river. It is not surprising, therefore, that it is also the smallest of all Pacific salmon. But sockeye salmon are most adapted to breeding in lakes. In North America, where there are more large rivers and more lakes, the ratio of Pacific salmon species is shifted compared to our Far East towards sockeye salmon and chinook salmon, while in our country pink salmon and chum salmon are most abundant.

If in the Far East several species of salmon coexist in one river, then in Europe Atlantic salmon and brown trout can live together. At the same time, several forms of Atlantic salmon are often distinguished - frozen, cut, low-water, which differ in size, fat content and timing of entry into the river. All forms are sometimes divided into “spring” and “winter”. If the first ones enter the river and spawn in the same year, then the winter ones enter the river in the summer or autumn, and spawn only a year later, without feeding at all during this time. Why this is needed remains a mystery

Salmon fishing

The site provides colorful information about salmon fishing in Alaska. For starters, here's a fun video of salmon fishing:

The fishing filming that day was replete with underwater fishing footage. Fishing in Alaska, like all tours to Alaska, keeps the vacationer in constant emotional tension, adding new emotions and a breath of extreme sports to every salmon fishing trip.

Alaska's waters are literally full different types salmon. After moving overland, we used a small boat to alternate between boat fishing and shore fishing. Before we even started fishing, we met thousands of salmon on our way. Our goal for today, in addition to satisfying the fishing passion of our clients, was underwater fishing photography. Salmon in Alaska, which rise up the river, are an unusual subject for video sketches. It doesn’t matter whether we caught him at the moment of rest in one of the holes or we film him in the process of resisting and trying to free himself from a fishing hook, filming underwater fishing is always dynamic footage.

Vacations in Alaska and salmon fishing are closely related. Remote places of the peninsula attract lovers of fly fishing and spin fishing. Salmon in Alaska is a legendary fish, famous since the times of the ancient Indians. All stocks and populations of these fish have been preserved to this day. And you and I have the opportunity to appreciate all the advantages of this magnificent fish.

Fishing with a spinning rod with a fly this time turned out to be much more productive than fishing with a fishing rod equipped with a cord. Sockeye salmon was readily caught in all suitable places in the river. It didn’t cause any special effort in fighting and fishing, or maybe our hands were already accustomed to the constant pressure of the fish on the tackle. But everything changed immediately when a silverfish landed on the hook. It was still the same sockeye salmon, only it had entered the river from the sea no more than a day ago. Her body was still completely silver, and she had not yet had time to adapt to the fresh
water. But this quality is valued as highly as possible among migratory fish... The silverfish is a fish with wild strength and a frantic character. Still remembering the ocean expanses and having the best physical indicators, she has more than enough time to tire the angler before she gives up.

Fishing time passes and vacationers begin to feel hungry. Sockeye salmon caviar for lunch - best dishes in wild nature! Cooking fish caviar is a responsible process and requires experience, and even more so preparing salmon caviar. But there was a person on our team who was able to surprise not only us, but also our American comrades with the taste of this dish! Sockeye salmon caviar, the recipe for which is simple but original in its own way, was prepared for dinner on the table.

But you can’t just catch salmon just like that. They can also be bred in special factories.

Salmon fisheries

Since the decline in salmon numbers has been noticed for quite some time, people have been trying to find ways to restore it for many years, and one of these ways is fish hatcheries. The first factories appeared about a century and a half ago, and these were salmon factories, which was due both to the importance of this fish and to its biological characteristics, which make breeding and growing salmon quite simple procedures compared to many other types of fish. It is especially important that young salmon, after emerging from the eggs and resolving the yolk sac, turn out to be large and well prepared for independent life.

In fish hatcheries, eggs are obtained from salmon by artificial insemination, they are incubated and the young are raised, usually to the state of smolts. The smolts are released into the river near the mouth. The survival rate of salmon in hatcheries from eggs to smolts is much higher than in nature. In addition, hatchery reproduction makes it possible to regulate the release of juveniles and release them precisely when the most suitable conditions are available for this, in particular nutritional conditions. At the same time, the viability of hatchery salmon is often lower than wild salmon due to differences in conditions in hatcheries from those to which they are adapted, and also due to the fact that in natural conditions the most adapted, and not random, individuals survive. Such selection is practically absent in factories.

In some cases, fish hatcheries are a necessity. This occurs where conditions for natural reproduction are significantly disrupted or completely lost. Unfortunately, this is now the rule in too many cases. For example, the salmon of the Narva River completely disappeared after the construction of a hydroelectric power station in the 1950s. and was restored only thanks to the fish hatchery. Fish hatcheries can also play a positive role in cases of intense poaching that occurs on spawning grounds. Currently, about 15% of all salmon are raised in hatcheries.

To preserve and restore the number of Baltic salmon, as part of the implementation of the state task for the artificial reproduction of aquatic biological resources, in the spring of this year, the Narva fish hatchery released yearlings of this type of fish in the river. Narva, in the amount of 138 thousand pieces.

Since September 4 of this year, the Narva fish hatchery of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Sevzaprybvod” has been releasing extra-planned juvenile Baltic salmon into the Narva River. In total, the plant plans to release from 30 thousand to 50 thousand juveniles in September, reports the assistant to the head of the North-West Territorial Administration of the Federal Fisheries Agency.

At the same time, it is necessary to understand that hatchery reproduction cannot fully replace wild salmon. After all, being a symbol wildlife, salmon find themselves inseparable from their natural habitat and their way of life. If natural spawning is excluded, this wonderful fish ceases to be a cultural symbol.

There are other dangers in fish hatcheries. After leaving the hatcheries, salmon go to sea, where they feed together with wild salmon of their own and other species. And since the ocean’s possibilities are not unlimited, hatchery salmon come into competition with wild ones. It is possible, for example, that intensive hatchery reproduction of chum salmon in Japanese hatcheries has led to a decrease in the number of natural populations of chum salmon. The role of fish hatcheries is also changing in the context of the large-scale development of salmon cage mariculture, when the production of salmon meat itself has become a fairly simple task. With such a rapid growth in cultivation, factory reproduction, especially those aimed at obtaining marketable products, and not considered as a temporary measure to restore wild populations, should gradually lose its importance.

Salmon Recipes

Cheese and salmon tartare from tvcook.ru

The roots of this luxurious dish go back to the distant past of Tatar cuisine, when wild warriors ate raw meat cut into layers, aged for 1 day under the saddle of a horse. But keeping pace with progress, tartar began to be called any dish prepared from raw vegetables, poultry, fish, beef or pork, which was previously seasoned with a certain set of spices, herbs and oils. Today we are pleased to share with you a great version of this dish with notes of French cuisine - Cheese and salmon tartare!

Ingredients for making cheese and salmon tartare.