page_title: Wildlife of Alaska
section_title: Salmon
hierarchical_section_title: Wildlife of Alaska / Fish / Salmon
caption_attribution_description: English: Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
context_page_description: The wildlife of Alaska is diverse and abundant.
context_section_description: Alaska is home to five species of salmon: The chum salmon, which is banded green, yellow, and purple with a white tip on the anal fin, sockeye salmon, a deep red salmon with a white mouth, coho salmon, a maroon salmon with black spots, the Chinook salmon, also called the "king salmon", has a black gum line and black mouth and the pink salmon, which can be distinguished by its small size and overall pink hue. Every year, the salmon participate in the great spawning migration up against the river currents. They do this in large numbers and are frequently seen jumping out of the water. This is a physical effort of them trying to go against the current. Bears, particularly brown bears, take advantage of this event by swarming to the rivers, and indulging in the salmon feast. Bear Lake, near Seward on the Kenai Peninsula, has been the site of salmon enhancement activities since 1962.
caption: School of salmon
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