Coho Salmon and Redwood Creek: Life Cycle and Conservation, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Biology

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Coho Salmon at Redwood Creek

Hilary Anderson Bio 28

Coho Salmon Coho Salmon, more commonly known as Silver salmon or salmon trout, are an anadromous fish in the salmon family. An anadromous fish is one that lives most of it’s life in salt water, yet breed in fresh water. While in freshwater, they eat plankton and insects. When Coho become adults and are in the sea, they eat small fish. When returning to freshwater to spawn, they do not eat anything, in fact their jaws and teeth become hooked. While Coho are in the ocean they have silver sides and dark blue backs. While in fresh water they develop bright red sides, bluish green heads and backs dark bellies with dark spots on their backs. An average Coho grows to seven to eleven pounds and 28 inches long. The largest reported Coho weighed thirty-six pounds (wikipedia, 2008). You can usually tell the sex of a mature Coho by color, females a bit darker then the males. Both male and female Coho have a distinctive downward facing nose. Coho Salmon are very strong swimmers, going to coastal streams to spawn.

rely on clean, cool, clear sustained flows and the stable structural elements of streams in old-growth forests. The female Coho digs he nest in a gravel type area. When the nest is ready the female lays her thousands of bright eggs and the sperm of the male is spread on top. The eggs are buried by other females making nests around them. The color of the salmon fade at this time. After mating both male and female Salmon die, the female first and he male second. This gives extra needed nutrition to the water. The larvae is hatched six to eight weeks after fertilized (cohos.net,2008). After they hatch they stay in deep pool, which need to be cool and aerated. Many places have lost this sensitive salmon habitat because of deforestation and other human interruption. There are very few places where an entire watershed is protected one is at Redwood Creek. Once they are hatched they stay in redd form for two more weeks, soaking up all nutrients from the yolk, then swim out of the redd. The continue to stay in the fresh water for one year, then make a more leisurely journey downstream to the ocean. During this journey their gills and kidney adapt from freshwater to saltwater(ggnra,2008). The live an average of two years at see and this process starts again.

Redwood Creek QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. Redwood creek is short but very important stream in Marin county. It drains a seven square mile watershed. The creek extends from the peak of Mt. Tamalpais, Marin County’s tallest peak, to the Pacific Ocean. It provides “critical spawning and rearing habitat for Coho Salmon, Coastal Cutthroat and Steelhead trout” (wikipedia,2008). Lower Redwood Creek extension began after the Mexican government took control and deeded the land to individuals(NPS,2008). The Banducci family moved along the banks in 1850, making it a flower farm. The parks purchased the flower farm in 1986, and the restoration began in 2003. All of the non-native plants were removed, and dikes were removed to allow the natural floodplain. In 2004, in just a couple of days, log jams and weirs were placed on the bed of the stream to create the crucial pools that the juvenile salmon need to survive. While the construction was taking place the water was actually removed and all juvenile salmon and moved them upstream. In 2007, the construction continued by adding more debris to the creek bed. This is all referred to as the Banducci project. There are plans for more work to take place, including lots of native planting. The Creek plays a big part in creating the biodiversity

the solution, it will be in our lifetimes that animals like these miraculous Coho Salmon will disappear. are needed to see this picture.^ QuickTime™ and a^ decompressor

Sources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coho_salmon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwood_Creek_(Marin_County) http://www.ggnrabigyear.org/cohosalmon.html http://www.co.marin.ca.us/EFiles/BS/AgMn/03_0401/html/item-9- RedwoodCreek1.pdf http://www.marinij.com/marin/ci_ http://www.nps.gov/goga/naturescience/lower-redwood-creek.htm http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2006/07/research4.html