Get to Know Wild Salmon

With bright red bodies, green heads, and hooked jaws, sockeye are the world's third most prevalent salmon species—and one of the most iconic.

Chinook are one of the largest and most prized salmon species. But they're at risk of extinction across their southern range: from California to Washington and as far east as Idaho.

Coho populations are small yet widely distributed. Coho often make use of coastal streams and off-channel wintering habitats that are highly vulnerable to agriculture and logging.

Chum are the most widely distributed of species of Pacific salmon, traveling as far as 7,700 miles to spawn in side channels of rivers.

Pink salmon are the most abundant of Pacific salmon. They (along with masu) are also the smallest, and are also the most limited upriver migrators.

Masu, or cherry salmon, are the other smallest species of salmon. Masu are found only in the Western Pacific, from the Kuril Islands to Korea, Japan, and even Taiwan.

Steelhead are actually a unique form of rainbow trout that are born in freshwater, migrate to the ocean, and return to freshwater to spawn (sometimes multiple times).

Taimen are the world's largest salmonids. They can surpass six feet in length, grow more than 100 pounds in weight, and live 30 years or more.