While that's going on Bob is down at the beach hoping to catch a silver salmon. They are coming in with the tide and jumping just enough to keep him interested. No combat fishing here.
Some patient soul set up this rock stack at the entrance to our trail.
A curious otter came to watch Bob fish.
On the slopes behind us, an eye-catching flash of red: a Rumex species, either arctic or sour dock.
Slopes covered with yellow monkey flower.
So why do I think Salmon are cool?
Of course, they are delicious. Salmon caught in the bay are so much better eating than those caught up the rivers, and that gets into what I call the "cool" factor. There are numerous physiological changes happening when salmon enter fresh water that cause the deterioration of color, texture and flavor.
They stop feeding, living off fat stored in their tissues, and the stomach begins to disintegrate.
They undergo changes in osmoregulation while they are hanging out at the mouth of freshwater streams and estuaries before heading up for spawning. In the ocean salmon need to drink seawater constantly. A gland extracts the salt so they don't dehydrate. A large part of the exchange occurs through the skin. In fresh water they take in water (through the skin in large part) and become bloated, so now they have to stop drinking and release large amounts of urine to get rid of the excess water. This "flex-fuel" type osmoregulation totally jazzes me. There aren't all that many fish that can live in both salt and fresh water.
Anyway, those are some of the changes salmon undergo before spawning that cause the loss of color and flavor and mushy flesh texture. Males further develop some hooking in the snout, might grow a hump and undergo color changes as they head upstream. I think it's also pretty amazing that their sense of smell leads them to the same stream of their birth. The spawning process is pretty cool, too. I have to admit I really like these fish. They are very complicated!
Bad news for the survival of the salmon is that the water temperature of streams here in the Kenai has been increasing with global warming. Salmon need cold water even in their earliest stages of life. A five year study on that (by ADF&G, iirc) is being wrapped up this year so I hope to learn more about this in near future, but I am wondering if this has something to do with the bad fish runs we've been having.
