Kings remain at sea two to seven years. They stop eating when they enter fresh water. Like chameleons, they turn a bright red-purple and males develop a hooked snout. Great for poaching or grilling, coho turn a dark maroon-red color on their sides when spawning. They develop a hook snout with large teeth.
Coho are the last of the salmon to spawn and the most acrobatic of the Pacific salmon.
They range from Southeast Alaska to the Chukchi Sea and fight their way up the Yukon River to the Alaska-Canada border. Sockeye salmon Sockeye or red salmon are sleek as polished silver in the ocean, and is the number-one fish for smoking. Average weight is 4 to 8 pounds, with the state record at 16 pounds. Spawning sockeye turn a brilliant scarlet color, their heads olive, the males hump-backed with hooked jaws and sharp, doglike teeth. Humpy or Pink salmon Pink, humpback or humpy salmon also range from northern California to the Arctic.