chum salmon

noun

variants or less commonly chum

: a metallic bluish green salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) of the northern Pacific Ocean and Arctic Ocean that may reach a length of about 3.5 feet (1 meter) but is typically smaller

Note: Upon entering fresh water to spawn, the male chum salmon develops large, sharp teeth and becomes dark green to brown with reddish-purple vertical stripes.

Examples of chum salmon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

By checking fragments of DNA in a sample against a library of fish genomes, Parsons and Van Cise can identify the exact species a whale ate over a roughly 24-hour period and in what relative amounts—for instance, 60 percent Chinook salmon, 30 percent chum salmon, 10 percent halibut. — Kelso Harper, Scientific American, 16 Dec. 2025

Puget Sound, had an healthy population of chum salmon this fall, which strengthens the argument that the recent salmon hat sighting was a goofy killer whale’s response to abundance of food. — Scott Travers, Forbes, 25 Dec. 2024

While chinook and chum salmon are restricted, sockeye salmon, a less traditionally popular and available fish, has become an increasingly viable alternative. — Paige Vega, Vox, 3 July 2024

Researchers have also observed chum salmon increasing their populations in cooler, northern latitudes. — Christian Thorsberg, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

chum entry 5

First Known Use

1907, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for chum salmon

• backgammon
• examen
• examine
• glutamine
• famine
• gammon
• mammon
• reexamine