Description
Sockeye Salmon: Oncorhynchus nerka
The sockeye or red salmon is considered to be the best tasting of all the West Coast salmon. Growing to lengths of eighty-four centimeters (thirty- three inches) these fish range from the Bering Sea to Los Angeles, California. They spawn in freshwater tributaries of lakes where they spend the first one to three years. These young fish will now migrate to the ocean where they will live for another two to four years. When it is time to spawn the males (like this one), turn bright red with green heads as they return to their home streams where they will spawn and die.
As I laid my washes within the Sockeye this village appeared, which seemed so very fitting. Sockeye were an integral part of First Nations’ life. All along the coast and on the islands here in the Pacific Northwest villages similar to this were numerous. These humans paid tribute to Nature with their totems, art and lifestyle; their villages reflecting this respect and awe.
They are carrying this into our modern day and are responsible for saving much of our natural environment.
