Almost all salmon can adapt to different living conditions, changing and acquiring a habitat shade.
Salmon is a predatory fish. Their primary diet consists of small fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and worms. The younger generation eats the larvae of insects living in the water or small fish. In rare cases, salmon even feed on jellyfish.
Due to feeding on crustaceans, adult salmon have the meat in different shades of pink or orange. The fillet is characterized by juiciness, tenderness, excellent taste, and aroma. Salmon has a high content of valuable vitamins and minerals, amino acids, and protein, making it the most beneficial product for the human body.
Salmon are born in fresh water and then go to sea waters, where they spend their entire lives until spawning. To spawn, the fish returns to their native freshwaters. Before spawning, it changes color to red and black; in males, the shape of the jaw changes significantly, and the digestive system atrophies.
Pacific salmon spawn once in a lifetime and then die. Atlantic salmon have multiple spawning opportunities.
Salmon caviar is a delicacy and is highly valued all over the world. The color and size of eggs differ depending on the type of salmon.
Consider the main types of salmon in a little more detail.
Pink salmon is the most common fish up to cm long and weighs up to 2 kg. It got its name because, during the spawning period, a hump appears on the back of males. Also, it is distinguished from other fish by an additional fin, a white mouth, and oval spots on the back. This is the least fatty of all types of fish, so it is not very suitable for frying, but it turns out to be tender and tasty when boiled or baked.
Chum caviar is a precious product. Chum salmon after pink salmon is in second place in terms of prevalence but exceeds it in size: up to 1 m in length and up to 16 kg in weight. It has a conical head shape with small eyes and a narrow jaw. It is represented in large quantities in the ecologically clean Kamchatka Territory.
Sockeye salmon looks like chum salmon, only a little smaller (length - 80 cm, weight - 4 kg). It is distinguished by a gray-golden color of the scales, which turns red with age, and becomes bright red during the mating season. Sockeye salmon mainly feeds on red crustaceans; as a result, the color of its meat is intensely red.
The fish is considered an anadromous fish, i.e., it spends a lot of time at sea, but part of its life cycle takes place in rivers.
Kozuch is a large fish from the genus of Pacific salmon. Its weight reaches 15 kg. Sometimes coho salmon is called silver salmon or even white fish because of the silvery scales. Another distinguishing feature of coho salmon is a high forehead. The meat of coho salmon is red, delicious, and juicy.
Chinook is the largest fish among the Pacific salmon. It is called the king salmon or the prince of salmon. The average length is 90 cm but can reach up to 2 m, weight - up to 60 kg. Chinook has beautiful greenish-olive scales and silvery flanks. Her body, along with her head, resembles a torpedo. Chinook meat is highly valued for its taste, and it has a beautiful pink-red color. The color of the heart is pink to red.
Salmon (Atlantic salmon) is also a rather large fish of the salmon family (up to 1.5 m and more than 40 kg). It has a mirror light silvery scales. Like the Chinook, it is also called the queen of salmon, but in the Atlantic Ocean, where it lives. After spawning, it does not die and lives up to 9 years. Salmon meat and caviar are delicacy products.
Trout is a generalized name for freshwater salmon of the Atlantic and Pacific species and from the genus of loaches. There are a vast number of varieties of different sizes. The color of the trout is typically salmon, with spots that can come and go. It is noteworthy that two-headed individuals are pretty standard among trout. These salmon are used as an indicator of water purity, and trout do not tolerate the presence of toxic substances in the water.
Be careful in shops and restaurants, and be able to distinguish types of salmon. This will help you choose the most delicious meat and caviar according to your preferences.
