sockeye salmon

noun

sock·​eye salmon ˈsäk-ˌī- 

: a commercially important Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) that is greenish blue above and silvery below when sexually immature and turns red with a greenish head when ascending rivers to spawn which it does chiefly from the Columbia northward

called also red salmon, sockeye

compare kokanee

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

The pristine watershed produces the largest run in the world of sockeye salmon, according to analysts with the McKinley Research Group. —Evan Bush, NBC News, 31 Jan. 2023

There are still some Kokanee, a landlocked version of sockeye salmon, and white sturgeon, an ancient fish listed as endangered in both countries. —Stephen Robert Miller, Discover Magazine, 5 Feb. 2022

The Gulkana Hatchery has a Garden of Eden feel, which is fitting since millions of sockeye salmon begin life here each year. —Ned Rozell, Anchorage Daily News, 30 July 2022

The Pebble project is on state land about 200 miles southwest of Anchorage, near headwaters of Bristol Bay, home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. —Alex Demarban, Anchorage Daily News, 31 Jan. 2023

By midsummer, low stream flows and warm water had killed half the annual sockeye salmon breeding run in the Columbia River. —Douglas Fox, Discover Magazine, 29 Nov. 2015

Only three percent of pink salmon and 13 percent of sockeye salmon survive to make their final migratory breeding journey towards their natal streams. —Jason P. Dinh, Discover Magazine, 29 June 2022

Each sockeye salmon can provide up to 4,500 calories. —Angela Owens, WSJ, 30 Sep. 2022

In addition to small amounts of pink and sockeye salmon, fishers in the Yukon River and its tributaries are also catching sheefish, grayling, burbot, pike, and whitefish. —Victoria Petersen, Wired, 30 July 2022

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Word History

Etymology

by folk etymology from Northern Straits (Salishan language of southern Vancouver Island and nearby islands) sə́qəy̓

First Known Use

1869, in the meaning defined above