Also, can you eat chum salmon?
The poor cousin of tasty relatives like chinook, coho and sockeye, chum has gotten a bad rap over the years. But when "keta salmon," as it is now marketed, is caught fresh from the ocean and processed quickly, the mild taste and flaky texture make it a great eating fish.
Likewise, how long do chum salmon live? Chum range between 4 and 30 pounds, but average between 10 and 15 pounds, with females typically being smaller. They can reach 40 inches. The sport fishing record was a 35 pound fish caught in British Columbia. They can live up to seven years.
Thereof, why are chum salmon called dog salmon?
The species is called “dog salmon” because of the marked canines that male fish develop during the spawn, not, as some claim, because the fish are so tasteless that they are fed to dogs. In Russia, the species is “Keta salmon,” from the Evenki language of eastern Siberia.
What does a chum salmon look like?
When in the ocean, chum salmon are metallic greenish-blue along the back with black speckles, similar to both sockeye and coho salmon. As they enter fresh water, their appearance changes dramatically. Both sexes develop a tiger stripe pattern of bold red and black stripes.
