Here in the Nooksack River basin all five species of wild Pacific salmon can be found.  The Chinook, pink, sockeye, coho, and chum salmon that call these waters home each have unique life histories and a fascinating life cycle.  Like all salmonids, these fish are generally anadromous; meaning that they live in both freshwater and saltwater at different stages of their lives. 

The salmon lifecycle begins when a spawning pair of fish digs a redd (or nest) in the gravel bottom of a freshwater stream so the female can lay her eggs (an average of 3,000) for the male to fertilize.  These eggs incubate in the redd for several weeks until the young salmon hatch out.  At this second life stage the salmon are called alevin.  The alevin look very much like tadpoles with a bright orange yolk-sac belly that feeds these juveniles until they fully develop.  During this time they stay close to the redd as there is safety in the gravel and in numbers.  As they emerge from the gravel after depleting their yolk-sac, the fry (as they are called in this third life stage) begin feeding on macroinvertebrates, or small aquatic insects, in the stream. 

As the fry grow larger they start to develop dark, vertical stripes or parr marks on their sides.  At this stage they are also often called parr or fingerlings.  When the fry are ready to journey out to the open ocean, they head downstream with the rains and spend some time in the estuary (the place where the fresh and the saltwater meet) while going through a process called smoltification.  At this fourth life stage they are called smolts.  As smolts these young salmon begin transitioning from breathing freshwater to saltwater and group together to prepare to head out to sea.  As adults, salmon may spend anywhere from 1 to 8 years feeding in the cold, nutrient-rich waters of the Pacific Ocean before returning as mature adults to the freshwater to spawn.  Most salmon will spawn within 100 yards of the place where they were born.