One Quick Question: Salmon are jumping in Whatcom Creek. What kind are they, and what are they doing?

A salmon leaps in Whatcom Creek. Photo: WWU

If you’ve been out and about exploring Bellingham, maybe you’ve seen people peering and pointing into creeks and wondered what they’re looking at. Well, it’s fall, which is when salmon return from the ocean to local streams to spawn. But what does that mean?

When it comes to questions about salmon, Professor of Environmental Science Jim Helfield, an ecologist who teaches in the College of the Environment, is our go-to. Helfield’s research focuses on the interconnectedness and interdependence of rivers and their surrounding watersheds, as well as how the habitat and ecology of Pacific salmon and trout respond to and recover from anthropogenic (human-made) stress.

Several salmon under the surface of the creek

Most species of Pacific salmon sacrifice all their energy reserves while swimming upstream to their home streams to spawn, or reproduce. Physically deteriorated, they die, nourishing the next generation of salmon and the stream ecosystem. Photo: WWU.

Q: What kind of salmon can you see in the creeks around here now, and what are they doing?

A: Every year in the fall, Pacific salmon can be seen in rivers and streams throughout Whatcom County.

The salmon spawn in streams, where their eggs incubate in nests (called “redds”) buried in the gravel. After the young salmon hatch and emerge from the gravel, they move out to the ocean, where they do most of their life’s feeding and growing. Then, when they reach maturity, the adult salmon return to the rivers and swim upstream to spawn in their home streams. After they spawn, the Pacific salmon die and their bodies decompose in the streams, providing nutrients to help feed the next generation of salmon and the rest of the stream ecosystem.

There are five species of Pacific salmon in North America: pink (also known as humpies”), chum (sometimes referred to as “dogs”), sockeye (also called “red salmon”), coho (known also as “silvers”), and Chinook (called “kings” because they're the largest). Different species come back earlier than others. For example, sockeye tend to return in late summer or early fall, whereas coho tend to come back in late fall. Some species stay out at sea and live longer than others. For example, Chinook salmon can stay out for as long as seven or eight years and get to be very large, whereas pink salmon always come back as two-year-olds and don’t grow as large.

In Western Washington, pink salmon spawn in odd-numbered years, which is why there are so many of them in the creeks now. Their offspring will come back to spawn in the fall of 2027.

Different species need slightly different types of spawning habitat, but in general, you can find salmon spawning in any stream that has clean, cool water with a gravel bottom, and where there aren’t any dams or waterfalls to block the salmon’s passage upstream.

Pacific salmon & their nicknames

There are five species of Pacific salmon, but it might seem like there are more because they all have alternate names.

Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) are called “kings” because they’re the largest Pacific salmon species.

Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) are also called “dog salmon,” probably because of the big, sharp, dog-like teeth they develop.

Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) are called “silvers” because, unless they are spawning, they are uniformly silver colored.

Pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) are also known as “humpies” or “humpbacks” because males develop a prominent hump on their backs during spawning.

Sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) are sometimes called “red salmon” because their bodies turn fire-engine red during spawning.

Sockeye salmon. Credit: NOAA Fisheries

Interested in degrees where you can learn more about fish ecology and habitat restoration? Visit the Environmental Science department’s website.

Jennifer Nerad covers Western's College of the Environment and College of Business and Economics for the Office of University Communications. Have a great story idea? Reach out to her at neradj@wwu.edu.