How 600,000 pounds of dead fish affected Alaskan trees

At the start of the spawning season in July, it is common to see up to several thousand sockeye swarming the mouth of the creek, their ruby-red bodies jostling in water less than 2 inches deep.

“At some point they just go for it,” Quinn says. “They are basically swimming over what’s little more than wet rocks, powering through the mouth of the stream and up the creek.”

Additional coauthors are from the University of Washington, Western Washington University, and the University of Maine.