• ComradeSharkfucker@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    Why?

    The goals of the Salmon change when they reach mating age. Now they don’t need to survive in the ocean, they need to make sperm/eggs and survive the long trip to their birthplace. This trip is through fresh water lakes and rivers. That is a very different environment from the ocean. They will need to jump/swim up waterfalls. They will need to avoid predators, but very different ones than they faced in the ocean.At the end of their journey they will mate and die.

    Because the goals and environmental pressures change so much the Salmon must also change to meet those new challenges. If they didn’t they wouldn’t be as successful in reaching their final destination and making more Salmon.

    How?

    Just like humans, hormones trigger biological changes. The change to fresh water also triggers changes and a countdown clock. The changes use a lot of energy, as does their trip and mating. Their body will literally consume itself to make the changes and meet the challenges it needs to so that the salmon make it home to mate.

    In case anyone was curious

  • weariedfae@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Is it all salmon species? I stumble upon dead salmon after spawning all the time during field work and I’ve never seen one that looks like that. They usually look like the top photo.

    • squeezeyerbawdy@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      This is just a pink salmon aka a humpy. Other species of salmon get the big overbite - called a kipe and big doglike teeth and usually more red coloration.

    • edwardbear@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Well, I vaguely remember watching a documentary about it. They literally start rotting while being alive. Somehow, I don’t need to be either a nutritionist, nor a doctor to assume that flavour, texture, and safe-to-consume are all gonna be a no-no.

      Edit: Found a video about it:

      https://piped.video/watch?v=C5AjppfOntc

      • azi@mander.xyz
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        6 months ago

        Yeah but that’s only when they’re on their way back to the sea, for most of the salmon run the fish are perfectly edible. For Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest whose territories don’t directly border the sea (so mostly Interior and Columbia Plateau nations) the salmon run was traditionally a major source of staple food. The rivers used to run so thick with fish that people up and down the major rivers could gather enough salmon to live off for the next year.

    • SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      6 months ago

      Oh no, they change that much and sometimes even more. The hump is a sexual selection trait - the bigger the hump, the more likely it is that a male will get to mate. This favors genotypes that lead to a big ol’ hump. While not all pink salmon get a hump that large, the Barry Whites of the humpy salmon world have a great big shoulder boulder that makes the lady fish swoon.

      Here’s one of those fishy freaks: https://www.landbigfish.com/articles/default.cfm?ID=352

    • shikitohno@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      Probably not photoshopped, more likely just different species and the one on the bottom has been butterflied and laid with the meat touching the ground so it looks much larger. Neither one has really started to change that much at the point these pictures were taken. Towards the end of the season, at least for west coast salmon, they’ll often get a lot leaner and their scales turn a super vivid red. As they lose their fat reserves, the meat also becomes much more delicate.

      • EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        6 months ago

        The second one doesn’t seem to be butterflied, as it would be missing a dorsal fin if it was, and the skin color is asymmetrical. They’re 2 different species imo, but I’m only familiar with Atlantic salmon so I can’t say for sure. Atlantic salmon normally look like the top one and get an upturned hook mouth but don’t really change color.

  • Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    Salmon 1: “Oh gosh, i’m out of the water. I cannot breathe. If this continues for much longer I will surely perish. What a sad state of affairs.”

    Salmon 2: "YOU FCKFACE YOU CANNOT KILL ME BY TAKING ME OUT OF WATER I WILL SUCK THE MOISTURE OUT OF THE AIR THEN SPIT BLOOD INTO YOUR SOUL, AUUUGGGHHH! SEX!!! SEEXXX!!! I NEED SEEEEXXXXXXX!!!"

  • Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
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    6 months ago

    Because they do not need to survive like that for long lol they die like immediately after.