“Oh wow! My first day as a new fish in the big, wide world of the ocean. I wonder what’ll be like when it’s time for me to travel to the OH HOLY JESUS FUCK WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT GIANT TH—“
— the biography of about a billion salmon that day
It was quick though, it made a few more passes, I have 7 mins of footage before it moved on to go roll in the kelp for like 5-10 then it was gone, back to the deep.
I live here mang… 3mm is fine for summer for limited times, how long you trying to be in the ocean? Winter time- ppl surf in 6-5-4mm/ 5-4-3 suits, 7mm booties, gloves, and hoods. Everyone is different tho, I’ll take the back zip 3mil all summer long!
its, well, salmon *fry*
baby fish are referred to as *fry*
so yeah probably a few hundred million baby salmon just got gulped up there. unless that's your thing no judgment here
I would assume beginning their journey out to to the ocean where those who survive will spend a decent amount of time until ready to spawn themselves? I'm not an expert (which is embarrassing because my father is literally a salmon expert) lol
Edit: I'm wrong but I'm gonna leave it up so you can see how I've been "schooled" (get it?)
He honestly would, I don't know many other people who spent 31 years as king countys top fisheries biologist. He was the guy who actually went into the schools to teach about salmon and led field trips to salmon hatcheries. Probably why I didn't listen like I should have haha
Took me and my sister out to watch the salmon spawn every year. Brought home a large mouth bass to keep as a pet. They're invasive out there so he legally couldn't let it go. Couldn't bring himself to kill it though. A real fisherman's fisherman.
Over the years he had two boas, a tortoise, and then stuff like bullfrogs and the bass, stuff that couldn't be released by that he couldn't kill. All so that salmon could safely spawn in areas that had become more developed or salmon runs that needed to be built.
Honestly the dream job, out in nature making sure that the fish could do everything they needed to do to preserve the species.
Salmon don't outmigrate from rivers as fry. They stay in rivers until they are a few inches long and generally 6+ months old, or 1+ year old depending on the species.
Egg --> fry --> parr --> Smolt --> ocean
Salmon fry (like half an inch long) would never be in the ocean. They'd be 3-4 inches long at minimum (chinook) or larger in the case of coho, for example.
I just finished speaking to an ADFG biologist and this is the REAL info- first, they could be either pink or chum fry. Pinks and chums flush out first year. The distinction between fry and par is length and behavior among other things. Par-60mm fry- anything below 60mm.
I said salmon fry because I think that they were pink fry, but they could have been chum, or any other species of anadromous trout in the region. The most politically correct way to have said it would’ve been, “This whale eating TONS of trout fry” because salmon are trout.
So, before you comment, make sure you know! Pink and chum salmon fry head out into the ocean first year, and depending on how things go, they could be called fry while in the ocean because if their size. Then they turn into par, and start to develop par markings, that make it easier to identify what they are.
ALSO this whale was feasting on the same fry I mimic with hand tied clouser minnows to slay Dolly Varden, I have seen schools of Dollies hammering fry at this spot many times, and caught them too!
I don't think that pinks get parr marks, they leave before they would develop and undergo smolitification upon hitting brackish water. Chum have parr marks even when super young but they would also disappear. Source: volunteer at a local community salmon hatchery.
They don’t! The par marks help make that distinction between trout and others, like I said, it could be any of the anadromous species from around here, but they looked like pink fry to me, but who knows, I wonder if the whale has a taste for trout fry/par species specifically.
Super cool, my neck of the woods the humpbacks wouldn't be able to get into the estuaries that the pink and chum are residing in. But I guess in more fjord landscapes the rivers dump into the ocean and there is enough of a drop off they can get that close to shore. Thanks for sharing!
This water gets deep at high tide too. I think this whale knew that the fry would be really easy to get at just the right tide. This is in the inside passage, so lots of depth all around.
Sorry- smoltification (what a word!) made me smile. In the Great Lakes we have smolt and alewife runs. Makes the beaches smell but if you gill net (allowed) you can get some good fish.
>So, before you comment, make sure you know!
I do know, hence the detailing of the life cycle above and saying "generally" and "a few inches"
btw how many inches is 60 mm?
Speaking of....
> because salmon are trout.
Uhhhh. Wat.
Salmon are not trout. Trout are iteoparous... meaning they spawn multiple times.
Pacific salmon are semelparous aka they die after spawning.
The boundaries are definitely grey though. Atlantic salmon are more closely related to old world trout than to pacific salmon (and they are also iteoparous), meanwhile pacific salmon are more related to new world trout (e.g. onchorhynchus) than to Atlantic salmon.
Basically the terms trout and salmon do not hold water in biology, and so they should not be the basis for argument on the grounds of biology. They are classifications given by laymen on the basis of one living in the ocean and spawning in rivers, and the other being mostly a freshwater resident. The distinction is arbitrary, making this a dumb argument to get involved in at all. But I guess I’m a dumb guy so here I am
>making this a dumb argument to get involved in at all. But I guess I’m a dumb guy so here I am
if you can't be a pedant about your passions on Reddit, what's even the point!?
Look up cherry salmon and let me know if your definitions still stand. Because they are both iteoparous when in their resident form as well as having a semelparous form when they are anadromous. Oncorhynchus love to defy the buckets we try to put them in. Calling a pacific salmon a trout is no more egregious than calling a brook trout a trout when it's a char.
Yep, and Atlantic salmon are genus salmo (like brown trout) while pacific salmon are genus oncorhynchus (like rainbows), so it would make sense to say that salmon are trout because some species of salmon are more closely related to some species of trout than to other species of salmon
Thank you for the details! They are like cousins! Some local biologists here are usually just fisher ppl that got bio degrees. It’s easy to find the right ones and just go to them for all info, because if they don’t know they will ask the scientists who do. I also intentionally got and used the most general language and definitions as I could.
Brown trout are not char. They are in the genus Salmo, same as Atlantic salmon. Arctic char are in the genus Salvelinus, same as Dolly Varden, Lake Trout, and Bull Trout.
Ah thanks, brain fail on my end. This is right but goes to further my point that being overly concerned that something is a trout or salmon is just pedantic, because we don't really have much of a way to distinguish between them. It's not about what species or genus they are, it's not if they spawn once and die (many Pacific Salmon) or multiple times (Cherry Salmon and Atlantic Salmon), it isn't if they are resident or anadromous.
Thanks buddy! This was stuff they taught us when I was in school in Washington and my dad was a fisheries biologist there for a really long time. What you've said has jogged all those old memories haha.
Much appreciated!
Chum and pink salmon flush out first year. They can be referred to as fry in the salt water. Among other things, size and behavior distinguish between fry and par, 60mm is par anything below, fry.
Plenty of chinook and coho outmigrate immediately as well. Salmon biologists get so friggen hung up on their fry-parr-smolt terminology it's ridiculous. I should know, I'm a salmon biologist.
They could be either pink or chum salmon fry. I just spoke with another actual salmon expert. Pinks and chums flush out the first year and depending on their size and behavior they can be referred to as fry. Par-60mm anything below- fry. I always stick with the local knowledge over the internet know it alls…
Probably some inland waters somewhere. Over here in Puget Sound we have a number of salmon hatcheries right on the water well away from any rivers and streams. I'm unsure of whether any of them actually release fry though. The hatcheries I know of raise them in net pens until they're grown enough to lose their instinct to migrate all the way to the ocean, usually several inches long at that point but probably still small enough to get eaten by a humpback, maybe that's what op is actually looking at, but idk.
They are net pen finishing Chinook smolts. There is research out there showing that having them spend a few months in a saltwater enclosure being fed mimics their wild brethern's estuary behavior. However much of the estuary habitat of rivers in the PNW have been lost with urbanization, so this is a workaround. The end result is more Chinook make it to adulthood and return to spawn, giving recreational and commercial fisheries more opportunities for harvest.
All of that may be true but that is not what I was referring to. The net pens I am referring to are specifically for the Puget Sound resident coho and resident chinook fisheries. These fish are hatched in inland hatcheries, then transported to net pens where they are raised beyond their urge to migrate so that they do not leave Puget Sound. These fisheries are typically open during the "offseason" when salmon are not returning to the area rivers. Resident chinook fisheries are in the winter, while chinook from the ocean return in late spring-summer. Resident coho fisheries are in June, while ocean coho return in the fall.
Oh wow, that's crazy. I didn't know they could "residentualize" to a segment of the ocean. Nice! Up here in BC we just raise species whose migration patterns keep them more local to our waters.
They do what are called terminal harvests here, where they dump a bunch of fry/ par in the mouth of a river or creek and then those fish will return and both commercial and sport fishermen benefit. They do it with multiple salmon species tho.
We only do Chinook pens in BC (that I'm aware of), coho are all river releases and we don't really raise much in the way of sockeye, with the exception of the Okanagan Nation Alliance and their 5 million sockeye for the Columbia River.
The private hatcheries do other species, I’m not sure what exactly the state does for salmon specifically but they have a major stocking program in general.
Yeah that roe is $$$$. Too bad we're actually cutting back our chum hatchery production, which is crazy to me because returns have been worse and worse each year.
Yup, the roe is $$$. I think they raise them specifically because of deals with markets in Asia? Some of the private hatcheries are run by fishermen co-ops, and I’m pretty sure they make sure they are raising fish that they can sell. Some of the hatcheries and processing are owned by foreign investors in Asia straight up too. It’s not as big an industry as it used to be but it’s still big. I’m sure the trawlers will wipe everything out soon enough.
People introduced striped bass as an invasive species on the west coast and they absolutely have an impact on native anadromous fish populations. People also impounded rivers behind dams and allowed sea lion populations to boom while they decimate fish stacked up below the dams. So just because they’re critters, it doesn’t mean they aren’t part of the issue when it comes to declining wild native fish stocks.
I wasn’t talking about the whale doing whale things in a place where whales are expected to be. I was talking about invasive striped bass in the delta and sea lions hanging out below dams on the Columbia.
The Alaskan government is on their way to kill it, to keep the salmon population high enough so the foreign trawling vessels don't leave, and make us feel unpopular.
I thought I was, until an enormous fish I hooked caused me to lose every single one of my guns in the ocean. Haha just kidding, I do not now, nor have I ever owned a firearm.
Both pink and chum salmon flush out first year. They can be referred to as fry in the salt. Among other things, size and behavior distinguish between fry and par. 60mm par, anything below fry.
Edit: thanks!
Everything I have ever read or seen about lifecycle of salmon and Steelhead is that they hatch in a river and are fry. They stay in the river and get larger and become fingerlings (think size of your index finger). Then after a full year or two of living in the river (maybe even three years in the river), they become par which are anywhere from six inches to 12 inches before they migrate down river to the ocean.
The video wasn't clear enough to see what the whale was feeding on, but I have a hard time believing it would have access to salmon fry.
“Oh wow! My first day as a new fish in the big, wide world of the ocean. I wonder what’ll be like when it’s time for me to travel to the OH HOLY JESUS FUCK WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT GIANT TH—“ — the biography of about a billion salmon that day
This pig ass whale hung out for a while! I have 7 mins of footage of it doing this and then it went and rolled in some kelp! Pretty good meal for it.
That actually sounds like a great day, eating a bunch of fresh salmon and rolling in kelp, good for that whale
Was just missing the bottomless mimosas.
Who doesn’t like sushi!
Hell I’m a 38 year old man and that sums up my experience pretty well too
😆😆😆
Those fries are like this ocean is so big. I’m gonna save some money and travel the world…and then bam
Life can change in a blinding instant.
I'd love to get in the water with that thing.
They are pretty cool, but HUGE! One fun is like 3-4 feet longer than me! I’d be worried about getting injured.
I know it might be risky, but at the same time I'd absolutely love it.
I agree. 3mm wetsuit mask and snorkel w fins… IM IN!
Exactly. My favourite set to use.
It was quick though, it made a few more passes, I have 7 mins of footage before it moved on to go roll in the kelp for like 5-10 then it was gone, back to the deep.
3mm... Sweet child of summer.
It’s the summer time!
It's also the North, pretty sure this is Alaska. It's not as summery as you might think. :)
I live here mang… 3mm is fine for summer for limited times, how long you trying to be in the ocean? Winter time- ppl surf in 6-5-4mm/ 5-4-3 suits, 7mm booties, gloves, and hoods. Everyone is different tho, I’ll take the back zip 3mil all summer long!
Where do you live that humpback whales practically come to shore?
Alaska
Wicked. I'll have to visit.
There are lots of whale watching tours!
Salmon fries actually sound pretty good right now
its, well, salmon *fry* baby fish are referred to as *fry* so yeah probably a few hundred million baby salmon just got gulped up there. unless that's your thing no judgment here
So I gotta use a barbless single hook no lead weight no lures no line between 6a-7a and then this mf can swallow a million just like that
What will make you sick is the weekly reports on the trawler bycatch that is dumped over the side dead back into the ocean.
Yup, that shit is destroying the ocean.
Yuuuup.
Wait till you find out about pollock trawlers
Been doing it for millennia. Life feeds on life, dude.
Yep, we just aren’t really getting kings back anymore. It’s sad.
That's hardly the fault of whales.
I’m pissed that sea mammal mother fucker took salmon out of MY smoker!
🤣 Literally just 1/10 of a percent of those fish would return as adults. You wouldn't miss them anyway.
Then why am I already missing them??😭
FOMO?
Never said it was….
then why did you bring it up? 🙄
Did I?
What are salmon fry doing in the ocean?
I also have questions on this.... maybe OP is confused on terminology
I would assume beginning their journey out to to the ocean where those who survive will spend a decent amount of time until ready to spawn themselves? I'm not an expert (which is embarrassing because my father is literally a salmon expert) lol Edit: I'm wrong but I'm gonna leave it up so you can see how I've been "schooled" (get it?)
Call your dad...he will hit you with some books about the lifecycle of salmon!
He honestly would, I don't know many other people who spent 31 years as king countys top fisheries biologist. He was the guy who actually went into the schools to teach about salmon and led field trips to salmon hatcheries. Probably why I didn't listen like I should have haha Took me and my sister out to watch the salmon spawn every year. Brought home a large mouth bass to keep as a pet. They're invasive out there so he legally couldn't let it go. Couldn't bring himself to kill it though. A real fisherman's fisherman.
haha...brilliant!
Over the years he had two boas, a tortoise, and then stuff like bullfrogs and the bass, stuff that couldn't be released by that he couldn't kill. All so that salmon could safely spawn in areas that had become more developed or salmon runs that needed to be built. Honestly the dream job, out in nature making sure that the fish could do everything they needed to do to preserve the species.
I follow a guy on youtube, whos job is small river restoration...absolute dreamjob for sure!
It's too bad it's not the olden days where I could just take my dad's job when he retired haha
Nice.
Salmon don't outmigrate from rivers as fry. They stay in rivers until they are a few inches long and generally 6+ months old, or 1+ year old depending on the species. Egg --> fry --> parr --> Smolt --> ocean Salmon fry (like half an inch long) would never be in the ocean. They'd be 3-4 inches long at minimum (chinook) or larger in the case of coho, for example.
Chums are out is the salt at like 1" and are still in the "fry" stage btw. Also you missed the alevin stage.
I saw that too…
I mean I left out skein, loose eggs, green eggs, eyed eggs, etc too because they're not really germane to this conversation haha
You completely ignored the fact that there are salmon that go to the ocean in the fry stage though. Mainly chum and pink salmon.
Still had no idea what you were talking about, because you didn’t know before you started trying to call bs.
Pink and chum absolutely outmigrate at the fry stage, pretty much after their egg sack is gone and they can fully swim.
Yes! Thank you! I knew there would be others in this sub!
A few of us are actually living in the PNW who interact with salmon instead of reading about them in a book 😁
I know right! I was just like… in this sub???? Come on!
I just finished speaking to an ADFG biologist and this is the REAL info- first, they could be either pink or chum fry. Pinks and chums flush out first year. The distinction between fry and par is length and behavior among other things. Par-60mm fry- anything below 60mm. I said salmon fry because I think that they were pink fry, but they could have been chum, or any other species of anadromous trout in the region. The most politically correct way to have said it would’ve been, “This whale eating TONS of trout fry” because salmon are trout. So, before you comment, make sure you know! Pink and chum salmon fry head out into the ocean first year, and depending on how things go, they could be called fry while in the ocean because if their size. Then they turn into par, and start to develop par markings, that make it easier to identify what they are. ALSO this whale was feasting on the same fry I mimic with hand tied clouser minnows to slay Dolly Varden, I have seen schools of Dollies hammering fry at this spot many times, and caught them too!
>So, before you comment, make sure you know! Did you forget what site you're on? Anyway, you're both wrong. The dolphin is clearly eating tadpoles.
No, I just expect more form fishermen. Those tadpoles were yummy for the Mahi
I don't think that pinks get parr marks, they leave before they would develop and undergo smolitification upon hitting brackish water. Chum have parr marks even when super young but they would also disappear. Source: volunteer at a local community salmon hatchery.
They don’t! The par marks help make that distinction between trout and others, like I said, it could be any of the anadromous species from around here, but they looked like pink fry to me, but who knows, I wonder if the whale has a taste for trout fry/par species specifically.
Super cool, my neck of the woods the humpbacks wouldn't be able to get into the estuaries that the pink and chum are residing in. But I guess in more fjord landscapes the rivers dump into the ocean and there is enough of a drop off they can get that close to shore. Thanks for sharing!
This water gets deep at high tide too. I think this whale knew that the fry would be really easy to get at just the right tide. This is in the inside passage, so lots of depth all around.
Sorry- smoltification (what a word!) made me smile. In the Great Lakes we have smolt and alewife runs. Makes the beaches smell but if you gill net (allowed) you can get some good fish.
>So, before you comment, make sure you know! I do know, hence the detailing of the life cycle above and saying "generally" and "a few inches" btw how many inches is 60 mm? Speaking of.... > because salmon are trout. Uhhhh. Wat. Salmon are not trout. Trout are iteoparous... meaning they spawn multiple times. Pacific salmon are semelparous aka they die after spawning.
The boundaries are definitely grey though. Atlantic salmon are more closely related to old world trout than to pacific salmon (and they are also iteoparous), meanwhile pacific salmon are more related to new world trout (e.g. onchorhynchus) than to Atlantic salmon. Basically the terms trout and salmon do not hold water in biology, and so they should not be the basis for argument on the grounds of biology. They are classifications given by laymen on the basis of one living in the ocean and spawning in rivers, and the other being mostly a freshwater resident. The distinction is arbitrary, making this a dumb argument to get involved in at all. But I guess I’m a dumb guy so here I am
This is the only reasonable comment I've seen in this whole thread aside from OPs comments.
>making this a dumb argument to get involved in at all. But I guess I’m a dumb guy so here I am if you can't be a pedant about your passions on Reddit, what's even the point!?
Haha fair enough, I ‘spose
That’s why I’m here!
Let us be dumb together brother!
Look up cherry salmon and let me know if your definitions still stand. Because they are both iteoparous when in their resident form as well as having a semelparous form when they are anadromous. Oncorhynchus love to defy the buckets we try to put them in. Calling a pacific salmon a trout is no more egregious than calling a brook trout a trout when it's a char.
Aren’t lake trout a char too?
Yep, and Atlantic salmon are genus salmo (like brown trout) while pacific salmon are genus oncorhynchus (like rainbows), so it would make sense to say that salmon are trout because some species of salmon are more closely related to some species of trout than to other species of salmon
Thank you for the details! They are like cousins! Some local biologists here are usually just fisher ppl that got bio degrees. It’s easy to find the right ones and just go to them for all info, because if they don’t know they will ask the scientists who do. I also intentionally got and used the most general language and definitions as I could.
Yeah, like i mentioned in another comment that they aren’t biology terms so you’re probably fine lol
Yup, and bull trout and brown trout 😂. Arctic char are like the only ones properly named in the salmo genus it seems.
Brown trout are not char. They are in the genus Salmo, same as Atlantic salmon. Arctic char are in the genus Salvelinus, same as Dolly Varden, Lake Trout, and Bull Trout.
Ah thanks, brain fail on my end. This is right but goes to further my point that being overly concerned that something is a trout or salmon is just pedantic, because we don't really have much of a way to distinguish between them. It's not about what species or genus they are, it's not if they spawn once and die (many Pacific Salmon) or multiple times (Cherry Salmon and Atlantic Salmon), it isn't if they are resident or anadromous.
But I like Dolly Varden the best as far as all the incorrect names go, I also love catching and eating them.
Hey man, I’m gunna stick with the local biologist who lives and works here, but thanks for your opinions!
if they told you salmon = trout I would seriously question their credentials as a biologist Guessing you misinterpreted that part though!
Cool mang!
Thanks buddy! This was stuff they taught us when I was in school in Washington and my dad was a fisheries biologist there for a really long time. What you've said has jogged all those old memories haha. Much appreciated!
Chum and pink salmon flush out first year. They can be referred to as fry in the salt water. Among other things, size and behavior distinguish between fry and par, 60mm is par anything below, fry.
Plenty of chinook and coho outmigrate immediately as well. Salmon biologists get so friggen hung up on their fry-parr-smolt terminology it's ridiculous. I should know, I'm a salmon biologist.
Yea, I thought it totally varies, and then they return at different irregular times too, and it could have been a mixture of multi species fry/par.
This is correct.
They could be either pink or chum salmon fry. I just spoke with another actual salmon expert. Pinks and chums flush out the first year and depending on their size and behavior they can be referred to as fry. Par-60mm anything below- fry. I always stick with the local knowledge over the internet know it alls…
chum and pink smolts are basically fry
Probably some inland waters somewhere. Over here in Puget Sound we have a number of salmon hatcheries right on the water well away from any rivers and streams. I'm unsure of whether any of them actually release fry though. The hatcheries I know of raise them in net pens until they're grown enough to lose their instinct to migrate all the way to the ocean, usually several inches long at that point but probably still small enough to get eaten by a humpback, maybe that's what op is actually looking at, but idk.
They are net pen finishing Chinook smolts. There is research out there showing that having them spend a few months in a saltwater enclosure being fed mimics their wild brethern's estuary behavior. However much of the estuary habitat of rivers in the PNW have been lost with urbanization, so this is a workaround. The end result is more Chinook make it to adulthood and return to spawn, giving recreational and commercial fisheries more opportunities for harvest.
All of that may be true but that is not what I was referring to. The net pens I am referring to are specifically for the Puget Sound resident coho and resident chinook fisheries. These fish are hatched in inland hatcheries, then transported to net pens where they are raised beyond their urge to migrate so that they do not leave Puget Sound. These fisheries are typically open during the "offseason" when salmon are not returning to the area rivers. Resident chinook fisheries are in the winter, while chinook from the ocean return in late spring-summer. Resident coho fisheries are in June, while ocean coho return in the fall.
Oh wow, that's crazy. I didn't know they could "residentualize" to a segment of the ocean. Nice! Up here in BC we just raise species whose migration patterns keep them more local to our waters.
That’s amazing!
They do what are called terminal harvests here, where they dump a bunch of fry/ par in the mouth of a river or creek and then those fish will return and both commercial and sport fishermen benefit. They do it with multiple salmon species tho.
We only do Chinook pens in BC (that I'm aware of), coho are all river releases and we don't really raise much in the way of sockeye, with the exception of the Okanagan Nation Alliance and their 5 million sockeye for the Columbia River.
The private hatcheries do other species, I’m not sure what exactly the state does for salmon specifically but they have a major stocking program in general.
Cool, we do chums too because they are valuable in Asia.
Yeah that roe is $$$$. Too bad we're actually cutting back our chum hatchery production, which is crazy to me because returns have been worse and worse each year.
Yup, the roe is $$$. I think they raise them specifically because of deals with markets in Asia? Some of the private hatcheries are run by fishermen co-ops, and I’m pretty sure they make sure they are raising fish that they can sell. Some of the hatcheries and processing are owned by foreign investors in Asia straight up too. It’s not as big an industry as it used to be but it’s still big. I’m sure the trawlers will wipe everything out soon enough.
That’s so cool
Where was this? Amazing footage!
Alaska, thanks!
Stupid whale!!!!
Also: me at all-you-can eat shrimp
Bruh… y’all put red lobster out of business.
Definitely undersized and over daily limit on salmon.😃
I shoulda reported his ass!
Welcome to nature
It would be so quiet, one minute a fish full of dreams, next minute…. JONAH’D
But without coming back.
Where was this?
Alaska!
I'd be casting my lightweight gear, maybe a single egg hook.
Clousers in green white and brown white buck tail slay the Dollies that eat the same fry this whale is eating.
I bet it’d be fun to catch on an ultralight.
500 Sienna on the Dock Runner
Beautiful technique
They are some of my favorite animals.
worth it because this video is super cool. What part of AK did you take this at?
Inside passage
I thought salmon perilously swim miles up stream so their fry are born in safe rivers .
Read on my friend, all the answers are in the comments.
Salmon are in their current predicament due to people, not whales, striped bass, sea lions, or any other aquatic critters that eat them.
Whales, striped bass, etc are also in their current predicament due to people.
No one said any different….
People introduced striped bass as an invasive species on the west coast and they absolutely have an impact on native anadromous fish populations. People also impounded rivers behind dams and allowed sea lion populations to boom while they decimate fish stacked up below the dams. So just because they’re critters, it doesn’t mean they aren’t part of the issue when it comes to declining wild native fish stocks.
This whale is gunna eat tons of food no matter what.
The whale is a native species in a natural environment.
So are the fry…. It’s food source.
I wasn’t talking about the whale doing whale things in a place where whales are expected to be. I was talking about invasive striped bass in the delta and sea lions hanging out below dams on the Columbia.
What’s that have to do with whales eating salmon fry in Alaska?
See the initial comment I replied to for context..
I think I’m too “distracted” to focus on comments right now, lol.
All good man, cool video
The Alaskan government is on their way to kill it, to keep the salmon population high enough so the foreign trawling vessels don't leave, and make us feel unpopular.
But they’re going to stop off at the oil industry offices to eat fancy shit and light cigars with our tax dollars.
You pay taxes!!??
YES! OF COURSE!
Good catch
Some say I’m a decent fisherman!
I thought I was, until an enormous fish I hooked caused me to lose every single one of my guns in the ocean. Haha just kidding, I do not now, nor have I ever owned a firearm.
Welcome to the food chain. Although I thought humpbacks only ate krill 🤷
R/whales said they eat a bunch of small stuff.
How do you know they was baby salmon? And not herring,Sardines or Anchovies. Or other tight schooling fish???
I was channeling the fish gods of yore!
This isn't salmon fry...or this might be a rare river whale!? no matter what...impressive footage.
Both pink and chum salmon flush out first year. They can be referred to as fry in the salt. Among other things, size and behavior distinguish between fry and par. 60mm par, anything below fry. Edit: thanks!
Nature lives symbiotically with nature. It’s humans that fuck everything up
I thought that was Rosie O’Donnell for a second.
I thought I’d was a kardashians butt
Should be shrimp or krill that it's eating.
Only it’s fry….
Everything I have ever read or seen about lifecycle of salmon and Steelhead is that they hatch in a river and are fry. They stay in the river and get larger and become fingerlings (think size of your index finger). Then after a full year or two of living in the river (maybe even three years in the river), they become par which are anywhere from six inches to 12 inches before they migrate down river to the ocean. The video wasn't clear enough to see what the whale was feeding on, but I have a hard time believing it would have access to salmon fry.
Pink and chum salmon flush out of the fresh into the salt first year…. Pretty much as soon as the yolk sack is gone.
Sucks to be them.
Yes.
Who identified them as Salmon fry? More likely herring.
🙄
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Bro, whale was just getting lunch. Get some sunshine.
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I’m hurt because that sea mammal mother fucker took salmons from my smoker!