Japanese Chum Salmon 

News: Research showed that marine conditions in the North Pacific have significantly reduced suitable habitat for Japanese chum salmon over the past 25 years.

About Japanese Chum Salmon

• Japanese chum salmon is a migratory fish species of Chum salmon. They are commonly known as “shirozake” in Japan. 
• Distribution: They are the most widely distributed of all the Pacific salmon.
  • They are found throughout the North Pacific Ocean and range from the Arctic coast of Canada and northern coastal regions of North America and Asia.
• Appearance: They are recognized by their silvery sides and faint vertical stripes.
• They are anadromous and do not reside in fresh water for an extended period.
  • Anadromous fishes are those that spawn in fresh water, migrate to the ocean to forage and mature, and return to fresh water to spawn and begin the cycle again. 
• Threats: The main threats to their survival includes ocean warming, reduced zooplankton and marine heatwaves which create stressful and unfavorable conditions.
• Their poleward shift
  • They are moving northward expanding into higher-latitude waters toward the Chukchi Sea as they lose suitable habitats along the southern edge of the North Pacific and the Gulf of Alaska.
  • This “poleward shift” suggests that climate change is impacting the marine environment on which they rely on for survival.