From the viewing platform at Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery, adult spring Chinook salmon appear as long shadows with occasional white patches, gliding back and forth in the concrete holding ponds. They may look peaceful, but wild changes are happening within their bodies as the season for spawning fast approaches.
These salmon have not eaten since they left the ocean in May. But the food they devoured in the ocean has been sustaining them, stored as fat in the tissues of their body. But not all their stored fat is available for themselves. A substantial amount is held back for the future. Not for their own future, since they will soon die, but for the future of their species.
Fish Tales: Roe, Roe, Roe Nearly Ready at National Fish Hatcheries
These salmon have not eaten since they left the ocean in May. But the food they devoured in the ocean has been sustaining them, stored as fat in the tissues of their body. But not all their stored fat is available for themselves. A substantial amount is held back for the future. Not for their own future, since they will soon die, but for the future of their species.
Fish Tales: Roe, Roe, Roe Nearly Ready at National Fish Hatcheries