Salmon Run
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Salmon Run
A flurry of reds emerges distorted from the river;
As the Sockeye Salmon return from the ocean,
Following the scent of their home stream water,
Swimming upstream to the place of their birth,
In this, their final act is to propagate the species.
During this migration, the salmon consume no food,
But depend on their stored body fat reserves.
The salmon flesh is red due to the krill they eat,
and this pigment moves to the skin where they absorb their scales,
as the flesh turns white, an indication of their health.
They endure the struggle over falls, up rapids,
and past man-made structures and predators,
To reach the spawning grounds of their creation.
The name originates from the Pacific Indigenous people
Salish languages,
Who called them ‘Suk-kegh’ meaning red fish after their colour.
For centuries, the Coastal tribes ancestral heritage
fished Sockeye for sustenance;
And traditions believed all living things were once people.
To them, the Sockeye symbolizes determination,
renewal, and prosperity.
Frantically, grotesque looking fish splash furiously.
The females in a frenzy sweep their tails to make beds,
While males await excitedly defending their mate.
Ready to move in between them and the nest;
To fertilize the eggs that are about to be laid.
They didn’t always look this way; with the upper portion
of the snout,
Elongated protruded over the bottom as if hooked-jaw
With long fang teeth and greenish hued heads,
And red pigmented bodies with thick leathery skin;
With a hump on their back that makes them appear freakish.
The juveniles remain in the fresh water until mature.
Then swim out into the ocean for two to three years,
before returning to repeat the cycle.
Steely silver blue tinted colour with white bellies,
And heads of natural proportions to the rest of their
sleek, transparent scaled bodies,
Torpedo shaped, magnificently gorgeous for a fish.
Copyright © Dennis Spilchuk | Year Posted 2018
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