Pacific salmon are an important biological and economic resource of countries of the North Pacific rim. They are also a unique group of fish possessing unusually complex life histories. There are seven species of Pacific salmon, five occurring on both the North American and Asian continents (sockeye, pink, chum, chinook, and coho) and two (masu and amago) only in Asia. The life cycle of the Pacific salmon begins in the autumn when the adult female deposits eggs which are fertilized in gravel beds in rivers or lakes. The young emerge from the gravel the following spring and will either migrate immediately to salt water or spend one or more years in a river or lake before migrating. Migrations in the ocean are extensive during the feeding and growing phase, covering thousands of kilometres. After one or more years the maturing adults find their way back to their home river, returning to their ancestral breeding grounds to spawn. They die after spawning, and the eggs in the gravel signify the beginning of a new cycle. Upon this theme Pacific salmon have developed many variations, both between as well as within species.
Pacific Salmon Life Histories gives detailed descriptions of the different life phases through which each of the seven species pass. Each chapter is written by a scientist who has spent years studying and observing a particular species of salmon. Some of the topics covered are geographic distribution, transplants, freshwater life, ocean life, development, growth, feeding, diet, migration, and spawning behaviour. The text is richly supplemented by numerous maps, illustrations, colour plates, and tables and there is a detailed general index, as well as a useful geographic index.
This volume brings together for the first time, and in a comprehensive form, most of the available biological information on the seven species of Pacific salmon. It is an invaluable source of information for students and teachers of biology and fisheries science, people in the fishing and aquaculture industry, and interested laypersons in countries of the North Pacific and elsewhere.
The quantity of information contained within this volume is immense, and the book is unrivalled as a compendium of data and references on Pacific salmon life histories ... it is an excellent review and the culmination of a major effort by acknowledged experts on each of the species ... This book is destined to become a classic library reference and will probably also adorn the personal shelves of most salmon researchers and many others besides.
This is a timely, up-to-date synthesis of our knowledge of the life histories of the seven species of Pacific salmon.
Groot and Margolis have compiled a timely classic, beautifully illustrated with 21 color plates. The text is the current, ultimate review of the life histories of the seven Pacific salmon species. Anyone wanting the definitive word in one volume, this is it - right now.
Preface / C. Groot and L. Margolis
Life History of Sockeye Salmon / Robert L. Burgner, University of Washington
Life History of Pink Salmon / William R. Heard, Auke Bay Fisheries Laboratory, Alaska
Life History of Chum Salmon / E.O. Salo, University of Washington
Life History of Chinook Salmon / M.C. Healey, University of British Columbia
Life History of Coho Salmon / F.K. Sandercock, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada
Life Histories of Masu and Amago Salmon / Fumihiko Kato, National Institute of Fisheries Science, Japan
Indexes
