Alaska Chum Salmon

The Alaska chum salmon, also nicknamed dog salmon or calico salmon, have the widest distribution of any of the Pacific salmon. In northwestern and Interior Alaska they are heavily relied upon for sustenance and are a traditional source of dried fish for winter use and are most often prepared as a smoked product. This is because of all the salmon species, the chum salmon is by far the least desirable. It is often caught and harvested to feed to pets and to sled dog teams as it is a very nutritious food source for them. Sport fishers generally catch chum salmon accidentally when fishing for other Pacific salmon in either fresh or salt water. If you happen to catch one, take a photo for good measure and turn it loose.

Ocean fresh chum salmon are metallic greenish-blue on the dorsal surface (top) with fine black speckles. They are difficult to distinguish from sockeye and coho salmon without examining their gills or caudal fin scale patterns. Chum have fewer but larger gill rakers than other salmon. When they near fresh water, however, the chum salmon changes color. They develop very noticeable vertical green and purple stripes, which give them their other common nickname, calico salmon. The males develop the typical hooked snout of Pacific salmon and very large teeth which partially account for their other name of dog salmon. The females have a dark horizontal band along the lateral line; their green and purple vertical bars are not so obvious.

Alaska Chum salmon often spawn in many of the same places as pink salmon such as small streams and intertidal zones where there are excellent conditions for egg survival. Chum salmon spawning is typical of Pacific salmon with the eggs deposited in redds located primarily in upwelling spring areas of streams. Female chum typically lay between 2,000 and 3,000 eggs. Alaska Chum salmon are similar to pink salmon in that they do not have a period of freshwater residence after emergence of the fry as do chinook, coho, and sockeye salmon. Chum fry do not move out into the ocean in the spring like the pink fry. They wait until fall before moving out into the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska where they spend one or more of the winters of their 3- to 6-year lives. In southeastern Alaska most chum salmon mature at 4 years of age, although this varies between streams. There are also a higher percentage of chums in the northern areas of the state. Chum average from 7 to 18 pounds with some reaching up to 30 pounds, with females usually smaller than males.

Nutritional Information: One ½ lb. fillet of Chum Salmon has 237.6 calories, 39.8 grams of protein, 7.4 grams of fat, 1.6 grams of saturated fat and 99 milligrams of sodium.
Note: Nutritional information provided by Ed's Kasilof Seafoods at http://www.kasilofseafoods.com.