What Do Salmons Eat?

Atlantic Salmons’ diet includes larvae (from aquatic insects), terrestrial insects, and marine organisms like zooplankton, and a wide array of fish like herring, capelin, mackerel, and smelts.

• Atlantic salmon, also dubbed as the king of fish, can live in both fresh and saltwater.
• The average weight of Atlantic salmon is about 8-12 pounds, but some can weigh up to 30 pounds.
• The Atlantic salmon averages a length of about 28 inches.
• It can be found in temperate marine coastal waters and freshwaters, especially in rivers and streams.

Young Chinook salmons feed on small crustaceans and insects. Adult Chinook salmons consume other fish species such as herring and sand lance.

• The chinook salmon is considered to be the largest of all pacific salmon species.
• chinook salmons can grow to a length of over 5 feet and a weight of 100 pounds.
• This chinook salmon can be found in temperate marine waters and freshwater, especially from lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams.

Pink salmons feed on squid, small fish, zooplankton, and small crustaceans.

• According to scientists, the pink salmon is the smallest of the Pacific salmon species whose numbers seem to be thriving.
• Pink salmons’ habitats include coastal and fresh waters (lakes).

Sockeye Salmons are omnivorous. They feed on riparian plants, fish, and aquatic insects.

• The sockeye salmon is also known to as blueback or red salmon.
• The sockeye salmon is one of the smallest of species in the Pacific.
• They can be found in marine, and freshwater habitats (estuaries, lakes, and streams).

One technique that comes in handy for salmon when they are foraging for prey is suction feeding.

• Salmon, like other fish species, use suction feeding to attack their prey and proceed to suck them in their mouths.
• Following this predatory event, the salmon would then bite its live prey and further proceed to swallow.
• Suction feeding in salmon is facilitated by a complex interaction between the bones and muscles of the head, which is a perspective of biomechanics.
• Salmon also employ a sit-and-wait strategy during hunting. In this case, they wait for their prey before they launch an attack.

Salmon display a shift between nocturnal and diurnal activity.

• These organisms can easily detect their prey during the day compared to at night.
• However, the risk of predation is higher during this time.
• The need for growth drives juvenile salmon towards diurnal activity because they can easily find food during this time.

How often salmon eat depend on many factors. In the case of many salmon species like the pink salmon, and the Atlantic salmon, they do not eat before spawning.

Different kinds of predators feed on salmon at varying stages of their lives.

• Examples of these predators include some salmon species, other fish species, grizzly bears, polar bears, birds, snakes, whales, seals, dolphins, sea lions, and humans.

Salmon play a significant role in the animal food chain.

• In their role as prey, these organisms offer a good source of nutrient to a large number of organisms including the endangered orcas.
• They also predate on many organisms which include but not limited to eels, squids, small fish, zooplankton and aquatic insects.
• Because of this, salmon regulate the local population of these small organisms by preventing overpopulation.