Outline : Keta Salmon have greenish-blue backs with silver splashes in the tail. It seems very like a Sockeye when sea fresh. Keta range all the way from 6-17 pounds and are mature at 3-6 years of age. The Keta salmon has extraordinarily light coloured flesh and is extraordinarily mild in flavor. Life Cycle : there are a few stages to the life cycle of an Alaska Salmon, eggs- alevins-fry-smolt-adult-spawning adult. An adult salmon deposits her eggs in gravel beds ( also called redds ) in freshwater streams and rivers.
Once the eggs have been fertilized by the male salmon the embryos will incubate over the winter months and then hatch into alevins in late winter. In the alevins part of life the salmon take on a unusual appearance having giant eyes, a ballooning orange sack and pencil like body. Roughly four months after becoming an alevin the young salmon changes into a fry. A salmon fry averages one in. in length, has a lengthened body and is free swimming. A just appeared buddy smolt migrates immediately to the sea not like the King salmon, Coho and the Sockeye who spend 1-2 years in water.
A fry blossoms into a smolt when it is prepared to go to the sea were it’ll stay for 3-5 years before maturing into an adult salmon.
The mature male and female salmon will start its journey back to its place of origin were the female will deposit her bounty of eggs and the male will fertilize the eggs and then both will die, continuing the salmon life cycle. Keta Salmon gets the name dog salmon partly due to its many sharp and large teeth and due to the hook nose of the male salmon. Run Times : Buddy salmon runs are often seen in south central Alaska beginning in mid June and running thru mid Sep .
