What is the oldest known age of salmon and steelhead (in completed years)?
• Pacific salmon: 7 • chinook: 7 • sockeye 7 • silver 4 • chum 6 • pink 2 • Atlantic salmon: 8 • Steelhead trout: 8 Is a steelhead a salmon or a trout? The steelhead is a rainbow trout that migrates to sea as a juvenile and returns to fresh water as an adult to spawn. Unlike the Pacific salmon, the steelhead trout does not always die following spawning and may spawn more than once and return to the sea after each spawning. How old are salmon when they migrate from fresh water to the ocean? That depends on species: • Chinook– • fall chinook, 3-4 months after hatch; • spring chinook, 12-16 months; • Coho–12-24 months; • Chum–a week to a month; • Sockeye–12 months to 36 months; • Pink–a week to a month. Sockeye Salmon images courtesy of “Regulatory Fish Encyclopedia, Office of Seafood and Office of Regulatory Affairs, Food and Drug Administration, 1993-1996.” BODY {margin:10px 0; padding:0;} .privacyfont2{ font-size:11px; color:#3399cc; font-family:arial,Helvetica; font-weight:normal
