: 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 kokaneeExamples of sockeye salmon in a Sentence
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Katmai is home to a massive sockeye salmon run, and Brooks Falls provides a natural barrier to the fish migrating up Brooks River.
—
Erin Donaghue, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Oct. 2024
Patagonia sources from across the map, including anchovies from Spain and sockeye salmon from Alaska.
—Mackenzie Chung Fegan, Bon Appétit, 11 Mar. 2025
The younger Gillam roamed drainages that sustain the world’s largest sockeye salmon runs.
—ProPublica, 13 Feb. 2025
These employees help monitor the health of the public waters and forests the agency oversees, clearing brush and trees that pose wildfire danger and monitoring the health of Alaska’s sockeye salmon.
—Nick Bowlin, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
See All Example Sentences for sockeye salmon
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Erin Donaghue, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Oct. 2024
Patagonia sources from across the map, including anchovies from Spain and sockeye salmon from Alaska.
—Mackenzie Chung Fegan, Bon Appétit, 11 Mar. 2025
The younger Gillam roamed drainages that sustain the world’s largest sockeye salmon runs.
—ProPublica, 13 Feb. 2025
These employees help monitor the health of the public waters and forests the agency oversees, clearing brush and trees that pose wildfire danger and monitoring the health of Alaska’s sockeye salmon.
—Nick Bowlin, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
See All Example Sentences for sockeye salmon
Cite this Entry
“Sockeye salmon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sockeye%20salmon. Accessed 6 May. 2025.
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