red salmon

sockeye salmon

 or red salmon

Male sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in spawning phase

(credit: Jeff Foott—Bruce Coleman Inc.)

Food fish (Oncorhynchus nerka) of the North Pacific that constitutes almost 20% of the commercial fishery of Pacific salmon. It weighs about 6 lbs (3 kg) and lacks distinct spots on the body. It ranges from the northern Bering Sea to Japan and from Alaska to California. Sockeyes may migrate more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) upriver to spawn in lakes or tributary streams. The young remain in freshwater one to five years. The kokanee is a small, nonmigratory, freshwater subspecies.

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red salmon

1. any salmon having reddish flesh, esp the sockeye salmon

2. the flesh of such a fish, esp canned