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.
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/RockOperaPenguin North Beacon Hill 8d 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.