THE REST OF THE STORY OF THE CHINOOK SALMON

About 50 days later the alevin have used up the food in their egg sac. The baby salmon are now called "buttoned-up" fry. They will stay in the river for about a year before heading for the salt water.

The smolt stage is when the salmon start to go to the ocean. They are 1 to 2 years old. The smolt will spend a little while in an estuary place in the river while they get used to the salt water. Did you know that out of the 1,000 or so of eggs that a salmon lays, only about 3 or 4 survive and come back to spawn! After the salmon reaches the ocean it will live there for 4 to 6 years. Then it returns to the same stream or river where it was spawned, starting the life cycle again.