Sockeye Salmon

Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) are also known as Red Salmon. This is the most valuable species to the Alaskan commercial salmon fishery. Young Sockeye Salmon mostly feed on freshwater plankton and so live in lake systems for up to three years before smolting. Maturing anadromous Sockeye Salmon will typically have spent two or three winters in the ocean. The latter are referred to as being three-ocean and are larger than two-ocean. Sockeye jacks are much smaller and typically one-ocean.