Red salmon migrate up the Brooks River and leap up the Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park, Alaska. (Patrick J Endres / AlaskaPhotoGraphics.com)

Wild salmon used to be distributed broadly throughout the world. However, and sadly, due to damming, habitat loss and other factors, wild salmon are now highly restricted. Alaska still has a healthy wild salmon population. Salmon are normally anadromous, meaning they are born in fresh water, migrate to the ocean, and then return to fresh water to reproduce. 

Pacific salmon start returning to Alaska during green-up in May and continue to show in some rivers well after leaves have turned in the fall. Gazing down into a channel jammed with fish may be one of the Last Frontier’s most iconic experiences. At the climax of a run, salmon might be arrayed bank-to-bank, like an armada of blushing torpedoes. Further upstream, watching lone fish reach the end of their epic journey can also be awe-inspiring but in a profound and elegiac way. Pairs of decaying spawners swirl and wiggle in crystal water, as females deposit eggs and the males fertilize. Close to death, they have completed one of nature’s great cycles, consuming every bit of strength in their primal mission to reproduce in the waters of their birth. From river mouth to feeder stream, the spawning spectacle is always engrossing.
 

《鲑鱼洄游》

问世间
何物为乡愁
直教鱼
生死相许

Anadromous Salmon

Hey, the world
What’s nostalgia?
See salmon going back home
At cost of their own lives