What salmon eat in the open ocean
After one to two years of munching on zooplankton in freshwater, young sockeye – or smolt – head for salt water to begin the next chapter of their anadromous lives, where there’s a whole different menu available. Dr. Katie Howard studies salmon diets in the open ocean and is an ocean fisheries scientist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “The sockeye, pink and chum, eat a pretty diverse array of invertebrates and fish,” she said. “And the amount that their diets overlap or don’t overlap, is really dependent on where they are.” Howard calls these three species of salmon generalists; for the most part, they’ll eat whatever is available to them. But she says chinook, or king salmon, choose different marine meals. “Chinook tend to focus more on fish and squid. But, which fish and which squid really depends on where they are and what’s available,” she said. >click to read< 11:08
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