Spawning

As the salmon enter the fresh water streams, they turn a bright red color. These waters where the salmon have come to spawn were once the places of their birth. In the spawning process, female salmon use their tails to create a gravel nest called a "redd". After the redds are formed, one or more adult males join her and fertilize each group of eggs that she deposits.

When spawning is complete, these salmon, that traveled so far and long, experience exhaustion and die. All Pacific Salmon die after the spawning phase. Interestingly, the decaying bodies of these fish form a plentiful food supply for small organisms that become the main food source for the hatching offspring of the dying parents.

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