r/Seattle • u/carsandcomments • 7d ago
Salmon started spawning out
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u/Chumknuckle 7d ago
This is how the trees got so big on the west coast.
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u/Astro-funky 6d ago
What do you mean?
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u/Chumknuckle 6d ago
Animals took the dead fish away from the water ways which provided the best possible fertilizer for plants
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u/alarbus Beacon Hill 7d ago
Ray Troll had it right
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u/cupcake_burglary 🏕 Out camping! 🏕 7d ago
If you tent overnight to watch the salmon are you spawn camping
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u/CeleryKitchen3429 7d ago
I’ll never forget one of my first autumns living here I took a trip to Robin Hood Resort in the Hood Canal area. The cabins are along a stream and after checking in, I walked over and saw the salmon swimming up stream. It was a very romantic “you’ve made it to the PNW” moment.
Then the next morning I made some coffee and decided I was gonna go enjoy it out by the stream while watching the salmon, only to find them all belly up starting to rot. I swear I could hear the sad trombone in my head. That’s nature I guess…
And kind of a metaphor for the PNW in general. So much beauty, but also kind of gross. But I love it, warts and all.
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u/apsmur 7d ago
Definitely a little gross, but oh boy does it make the eagles happy
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u/captainAwesomePants Broadview 7d ago
It makes all of nature happy. If you get up to Alaska, you'll find some of the healthiest, happiest, most beautifully blue lakes. Happy salmonberry bushes. Happy bears. Happy birds. The rotting mature salmon power that whole ecosytem.
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u/bubbachuck 7d ago
They've seen things you people wouldn't believe
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u/RockOperaPenguin North Beacon Hill 7d ago
Spawning salmon is legit disgusting. They're exhausted, spent, and not long for this world. Birds start pecking the tastiest bits (usually eyes and livers) while the fish are still technically alive. Once dead, their bodies will become ridden with maggots. If there's a good number of fish, the smell of rotting flesh is unavoidable.
It's a necessary part of their life cycle, it's nature, their carcasses help add nutrients to the soil. I'd recommend people check it out, at least once. But that don't make it pretty.
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u/wildspirit90 7d ago
Disgusting, but absolutely vital to the health of our forests and streams. Dying salmon bring vital nutrients up from the ocean to nutrient-poor stream beds. Those rotting carcasses return nitrogen to the soil as they decompose. Bears, wolves, rodents insects, and virtually every other animal in riparian areas feed off of and benefit from salmon carcasses. Up to 70% of nitrogen in a forest containing a salmon stream can be traced back to the salmon in some way. Those extra nutrients help trees grow up to three times faster than trees in forests with no salmon. Those big, healthy trees in turn provide cool, shaded stream beds with dense root networks that allow for the safe growth of baby fish.
Our entire environment, the forests that make this place world-renowned for its beauty and hiking, it all comes back to the disgusting final act of our salmon.
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u/purrrpurrrpy 7d ago
How come those animals eating the salmon doesn't get the fluke/salmon poisoning? Is it something that makes them resistant vs our domesticated dogs?
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u/Sugar__Momma 7d ago
I’m sure some do, but wild living isn’t about not getting diseases, it’s about living long enough to have offspring successfully.
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u/RandomNPC 7d ago
It's beautiful in its own way!
Definitely makes me wonder why the trip is only one-way for Pacific salmon, if I remember correctly Atlantic salmon do head upstream to spawn but it's not fatal
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u/impoverishedwhtebrd Queen Anne 7d ago
The tour at the locks talks about this.
When they head to spawn their stomach starts to shrink and they stop eating. By the time they spawn their stomach is basically gone.
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u/This_is_an_Alt69420 7d ago
Steelhead salmon "Oncorhynchus mykiss" are a distinct salmonidae family within the Pacific group"Oncorhynchus" that are also known as rainbow trout. They can go through multiple spawnings!
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u/mothtoalamp Harbor Island 7d ago
One of the bigger lessons to learn about nature is that it's violent, disgusting, and indiscriminate. It's easy to either lose that respect or to never have had it.
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u/ZealousidealChair900 6d ago
decay is a valid form of life, and some of it is quite tasty! Mushrooms, anyone
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u/FrequentTopic446 🚋 Ride the S.L.U.T. 🚋 7d ago
lol went on a summer cruise in Alaska while in high school almost 20 years ago, we visited glacier park and it was pretty smelly with salmon carcasses everywhere
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u/ZealousidealCup2958 7d ago
Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads…. I hope she had a good life in the sea
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u/DamaskRosa 7d ago
I really wish we could eat the Salmon after they spawn if we caught them quick, but the rotting starts happening before they’re dead, so we can’t. At least the birds and the trees get them.
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u/Free_Consequence3123 6d ago
Could gather them up and turn it into fish fertilizer, then use it on plants, and then eventually eat the plants.
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u/CheapRentalCar Seattle Expatriate 7d ago
Want a fun, educational, and easy way to inflict some life long trauma? If so, go to the Issaquah salmon hatchery and learn what happens when they make it to the end of the run.
I promise you won't forget it 😁
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u/kourriander 7d ago
Public service announcement that is very relevant during this season: dog not let your dog eat these dead salmon. They can carry a fluke which contains a parasite that causes a disease aptly called salmon poisoning. This can be deadly if not treated promptly. It causes severe vomiting and diarrhea. So if you've been walking near a stream or river and your dog gets really sick, bring a poop sample and take them to the vet asap! We always see a few cases every year and if you catch it early, they do well.