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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
Chinook Salmon

 
Scientific Name: Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Walbaum, 1792)
English Name: Chinook Salmon
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea, and W.B. Scott. 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 20. 183 pp.
Classification Level: Species
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: F-ONTS
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Actinopterygii Salmoniformes Salmonidae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G5 (Dec 2017)
Provincial Status: SNR (Sep 2019)
BC List: Not Reviewed
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status: Endangered / Threatened / Special Concern / Data Deficient / Not at Risk (Nov 2020)
COSEWIC Comments: See COSEWIC website for status of each of the 16 populations.(DW - December 11, 2020).
SARA Schedule:
General Status Canada: 4 - Secure (2005)
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description: Numerous scales; one dorsal fin plus one adipose fin; no spines in fins; irregular black spots on back, both lobes of tail fin, dorsal fin, and adipose fin; gums black at base of teeth. In the ocean, chinook salmon are blue, green, or gray on the upper side, silvery-white on the flanks and belly. During the spawning season, chinook salmon are olive brown, red, or purplish, the color change being more pronounced in males than in females. Young have 6-12 large parr marks on each side. Total length to around 150 cm.
Global Reproduction Comments: Overall, chinook salmon generally spawn at 2-7 years of age (typically 3-5) in fall, depending on the population. A small proportion of males (called jacks) mature after only spending about 6 months or 18 months at sea, and still others mature without having migrated to sea at all. Eggs hatch in about 2-3 months and alevins complete development in another 1-2 months (depending on temperature, hence related to latitude and elevation). Juveniles stay in fresh water for a few days or 1 year (rarely more). Adults die soon after spawning. Several distinct spawning populations may occur in one stream; these may differ in duration of juvenile rearing, size and date of ocean entrance, timing of adult return and spawning, age composition of spawners, fecundity, and egg size (see Nehlsen et al. 1991).
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		N /
Y /
Y /
na /
Global Migration Comments: Anadromous; migrates up to several hundred km upstream to the stream in which they were spawned. Different races differ in the timing of adult migration and spawning. Oregon coastal chinook stocks vary in ocean migration; some stocks migrate north, some migrate south, and one stock has a mixed north and south migration (see Nehlsen et al. 1991). There are two basic behavioral forms, stream-type and ocean-type (see Salo 1991). Stream-type chinnok is typical of Asian populations and of northern populations and headwater tributaries of southern populations in North America; spends one or more years as fry or parr in fresh water before migrating to sea, performs extensive offshore oceanic migrations, returns to natal river in spring or summer, several months prior to spawning; occasionally males mature without ever going to sea. Ocean-type is typical of populations on the North American coast south of 56 degrees north latitude; migrates to sea during first year of life (normally within 3 months of emerging from spawning gravel), spends most of ocean life in coastal waters, return to natal river in fall, a few days or weeks before spawning.
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence)
Global Habitat Comments: Chinook salmon generally spend most (often 2-4 years but up to 6 years) of their lives in the ocean. For spawning, they migrate up to several hundred kilometers upstream to their natal stream, where eggs are deposited in gravel bottoms of large streams and rivers.

Populations may differ dramatically in the timing of adult migration and, to a lesser extent, timing of spawning. There are two basic behavioral forms, stream-type and ocean-type. Stream-type chinook are typical of northern populations (i.e., Alaska and northern B.C.) and headwater (high elevation) tributaries of southern populations. These spend one full year as juveniles rearing in fresh water before migrating to sea, perform extensive offshore oceanic migrations, and typically return to their natal river in spring or summer, several months prior to spawning; occasionally males mature without ever going to sea. The ocean-type is typical of populations on the North American coast south of 56 degrees north latitude; these migrate to sea during their first year of life (normally within 3 months of emerging from spawning gravel), spend most of their ocean life in coastal waters, then return to their natal river in fall, a few weeks before spawning.
Food Habits: Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Piscivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: In fresh water juveniles feed opportunistically on terrestrial and aquatic insects. In salt water they eat crustaceans as well as other bottom invertebrates. Adults eat mostly fishes.
Global Phenology:
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): 80/ /
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: Native range includes the Pacific Ocean and tributary drainages, in North America presently from the Sacramento-San Joaquin system (sometimes farther south) north to Point Hope, Alaska, and in northeastern Asia, from northern Japan to the Anadyr River. The species has been widely stocked elsewhere.

In the Columbia River basin, the Hanford Reach supports the largest population of fall chinook salmon; annual production is an estimated 20-25 million subyearling salmon (P. Hoffarth, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, unpublished data).
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: Hammerson, G.
Last Updated: Jan 21, 2010
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
California Department of Fish and Game (CDF&G). 1990. 1989 annual report on the status of California's state listed threatened and endangered plants and animals. 188 pp.
COSEWIC. 2006s. COSEWIC assessment and status report on the chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Okanagan population) in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. vii + 41pp.
Healey, M. C. 1991. Life history of chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). Pages 311-393 in C. Groot and L. Margolis, editors. Pacific salmon life histories. University of British Columbia Press, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. xv + 564 pp.
Huntington, C., W. Nehlsen, and J. Bowers. 1996. A survey of healthy native stocks of anadromous salmonids in the Pacific Northwest and California. Fisheries 21(3):6-14.
Lee, D. C., and J. Hyman. 1992. The stochastic life-cycle model (SLCM): simulating the population dynamics of anadromous salmonids. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Paper INT-459, Ogden, Utah. 30 pp.
Lee, D. S., C. R. Gilbert, C. H. Hocutt, R. E. Jenkins, D. E. McAllister, and J. R. Stauffer, Jr. 1980. Atlas of North American freshwater fishes. North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, Raleigh, North Carolina. i-x + 854 pp.
Lufkin, A., editor. 1991. California's salmon and steelhead, the struggle to restore an imperiled resource. University of California Press, Berkeley. 305 pp.
Meffe, G. K. 1992. Techno-arrogance and halfway technologies: salmon hatcheries on the Pacific coast of North America. Conservation Biology 6:350-354.
Morgan, J. D., J. O. T. Jensen, and G. K. Iwama. 1992. Effects of salinity on aerobic metabolism and development of eggs and alevins of steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and fall chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). Canadian Journal of Zoology 70(7):1341-1346.
Moyle, P. B. 1976a. Inland fishes of California. University of California Press, Berkeley, California. 405 pp.
Nehlsen, W., J. E. Williams, and J. A. Lichatowich. 1991. Pacific salmon at the crossroads: stocks at risk from California, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. Fisheries 16(2):4-21.
Nielsen, J. L., editor. 1995. Evolution and the aquatic ecosystem: defining unique units in population conservation. American Fisheries Society Symposium 17, Bethesda, Maryland. xii + 435 pp.
Page, L. M., and B. M. Burr. 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes: North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 432 pp.
Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea, and W.B. Scott. 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 20. 183 pp.
Scott, W. B., and E. J. Crossman. 1973. Freshwater fishes of Canada. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Bulletin 184. 966 pp.
Slaney, T. L., K. D. Hyatt, T. G. Northcote, and R. J. Fielden. 1996. Status of anadromous salmon and trout in British Columbia and Yukon. Fisheries 21(10):20-35.
Stearley, R. F. 1992. Historical ecology of Salmoninae, with special reference to Oncorhynchus. Pages 622-658 in R.L. Mayden, editor. Systematics, historical ecology, and North American freshwater fishes. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. xxvi + 969 pp.
Stow, C. A., S. R. Carpenter, L. A. Eby, J. F. Amrhein, and R. J. Hesselberg. 1995. Evidence that PCBc are approaching stable concentrations in Lake Michigan fishes. Ecological Applications 5:248-260.
Thomas, J. W., Ward, J., Raphael, M.G., Anthony, R.G., Forsman, E.D., Gunderson, A.G., Holthausen, R.S., Marcot, B.G., Reeves, G.H., Sedell, J.R. and Solis, D.M. 1993. Viability assessments and management considerations for species associated with late-successional and old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest. The report of the Scientific Analysis Team. USDA Forest Service, Spotted Owl EIS Team, Portland Oregon. 530 pp.
Torgersen, C. E., D. M. Price, H. W. Li, and B. A. McIntosh. 1999. Multiscale thermal refugia and stream habitat associations of chinook salmon in northeastern Oregon. Ecological Applications 9:301-319.
Utter, F., G. Milner, G. Stahl and D. Teel. 1989. Genetic population structure of chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, in the Pacific Northwest. Fishery Bulletin 87:239-264.
Waples, R. S. 1990a. Conservation genetics of Pacific salmon. II. Effective population size and the rate of loss of genetic variability. Journal of Heredity 81:267-276.
Waples, R. S. 1990b. Conservation genetics of Pacific salmon. III. Estimating effective population size. Journal of Heredity 81:277-289.
Waples, R. S., and D. J. Teel. 1990. Conservation genetics of Pacific salmon. I. Temporal changes in allele frequency. Conservation Biology 4:144-156.
Williams, J. E., J. A. Lichatowich, and W. Nehlsen. 1992b. Declining salmon and steelhead populations: new endangered species concerns for the West. Endangered Species Update 9(4):1-8.
Wydoski, R. S., and R. R. Whitney. 1979. Inland fishes of Washington. The University of Washington Press, Seattle. 220 pp.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 2010. Species Summary: Oncorhynchus tshawytscha. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 13, 2026).