After the American Revolution, a carved wooden codfish was hung in the Massachusetts state legislature as a symbol of the prosperity trade in salt cod brought the new nation. Today, after supporting commercial fishing economies for four centuries, cod stocks all along the Atlantic coast of North America are severely depleted. Salmon, smelt, shad, striped bass, and sturgeon are anadromous fish, born in fresh water, spending most of their life in the sea and returning to fresh water to spawn. Most spawning salmon return to the precise stream of their birth, traveling great distances and sometimes overcoming tremendous obstacles to reach home. The opposite of anadromous fish, catadromous fish live in fresh water, entering salt water to spawn.
Most eels are catadromous.
At least 72 species of rockfish exist off our shores. Rockfishes are often associated with a specific habitat and give birth to live young. Very young red king crabs are solitary creatures living in relatively shallow water. Some information suggests the pods disperse at night and reform at dawn. Podding continues until crabs are approximately four years of age when they move into deeper water to join adults.