Pink salmon, also known as humpies, are a popular game fish for anglers across North America. Being able to properly identify pink salmon is critical for following fishing regulations. This complete guide will teach you how to easily recognize pink salmon at every stage of life.
Unique Physical Features
Pink salmon have several distinct physical features that set them apart from other salmon species:
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Spots – Very large, oblong irregular black spots on the back and sides and on the dorsal and tail fins. The heavy blotchy spots help distinguish them from other spotted salmon like chinook and coho.
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Mouth – The inside of the mouth is white with a solid black gumline and tongue This contrasts with the completely black mouth of chinook salmon
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Scales – Very small, delicate scales compared to other salmon species. If you put a pink salmon next to a silver salmon, you can tell them apart.
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Tail – The tail fin doesn’t have any silver color on it like silver and chinook salmon do. The tail remains dusky or dark-colored.
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Size – They can grow up to 10 pounds, but most are 2 to 5 pounds, which is smaller than other salmon species. Larger fish over 5 pounds are often mature females full of eggs.
Identification by Life Stage
Identifying pink salmon becomes more challenging when they enter freshwater to spawn and their ocean coloration starts to fade. Here are tips for recognizing them at different life stages:
In Saltwater
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Look for those very large, oblong irregular black spots and blotches on the back and tail fin lobes.
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Check inside the mouth for the white coloration and dark gums.
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Notice the small delicate scales across the body.
Transitioning in Freshwater
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Spots remain but fade as they head upriver.
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Dark back and top of head make it still recognizable from other species.
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Males develop a big humped back once sexually mature.
On Spawning Grounds
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Males turn dark red to maroon on sides with whitish belly. Still retain humped back.
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Females turn dark olive green on back with lighter sides. Often retain blotchy tail spots.
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Keep an eye out for the smaller average size compared to other salmon species.
Why Proper Identification Matters
It’s critical anglers can distinguish pink salmon from other salmon species due to differing regulations. Be sure to consult current regulations, as they can change annually, but in general:
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Daily limits for pink salmon are higher than for chinook and coho salmon.
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Pink salmon often have a shorter open fishing season than other salmon.
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There are differences in minimum size limits between pinks and other species like chinook.
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Gear and bait restrictions may differ by species, so you need to know what you’re catching.
Common Misidentifications
Pink salmon are most often confused with these other species:
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Chum salmon – Chum lack the distinct spotting and black mouth coloration. Their mouths are black inside but they have a white gumline.
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Coho salmon – Coho have spotting but only on the back and upper lobe of the tail, not the heavy blotches of pinks. Coho also have a white mouth with black gums.
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Sockeye salmon – In saltwater, sockeye lack any distinct spotting on the back or tail fin that stand out on pink salmon.
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Chinook salmon – Chinook have more defined, limited spotting compared to the larger blotches of pink salmon. Inside the mouth is black on chinook versus the white coloring on pinks.
Tips for Accurate Identification
Now that you know what physical features to look for, follow these tips to confidently identify pink salmon:
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Carry a regulation booklet with pictures for easy reference.
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Have a salmon identification guide on hand to compare markings.
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Examine the mouth color carefully.
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Check for spots on the tail fin lobes.
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Note differences in scales and size.
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If you’re ever unsure, release the fish.
Properly distinguishing pink salmon takes practice. Test your ID skills by looking at photos online before heading out on the water. With experience, you’ll be able to recognize pink salmon like a pro. Tight lines!
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
There’s an easy way to remember the names of each of Alaska’s five different species of Pacific salmon. It’s a method we often use when educating young kids about the different species and the salmon lifecycle. And it works.
We ask kids to hold one hand up and spread their fingers. We motion to the thumb and say, “Thumb rhymes with chum.” Then we ask them to use their pointer finger and point to their eye. “Point to your eye. Eye rhymes with sockeye.” The middle finger is the largest finger on the hand and, while there’s no catchy rhyme to remember, we say the largest of all of Alaska’s salmon is the king. Then we look at the ring finger and ask, “What color rings to some people wear?” Gold? No. What’s another color? Silver. Yes. The fourth species is a silver. And last but not least, there’s the pinky finger. Easy enough to remember that the fifth species of Alaska’s Pacific salmon is the pink.
Being able to name the five different species and knowing how to correctly identify all five is a little bit more complicated. And understanding how to tell an adult pink from a chum or a king from a coho begins with the salmon lifecycle.
And yes, there will be a quiz at the end of this.
A brief overview of the lifecycle of Pacific salmon
All of Alaska’s salmon begin their life as a fertilized egg in freshwater. Depending on the species and water temperature, the eggs incubate for a given length of time in the safety of the gravel in a river or lake. As the salmon develops within the egg, it undergoes certain physical changes like the development of eyes, a spine and a tail. Eventually, the egg will hatch, leading to the next life stage called the alevin. Alevin are small and can be identified by the large orange yolk sac attached to the body. Alevin remain in the gravel, protected from predators and receive nutrients from the yolk sac. At this stage, small tails are present. As the alevin grows, the nutrients in the yolk sac are depleted and the salmon begins to develop mouth parts, as well as small, ovular shapes along each side of its body. This is the point when the fish begins to leave the shelter of the gravel bed and swim around in search of food. This stage is called the fry stage.
Most, but not all, salmon fry have parr marks along each side of their body. Pink salmon fry do not have parr marks. Parr marks act as camouflage, protecting the juvenile salmon from predation. While fry are strong swimmers, they will seek out refuge in slower-moving water where they are protected from predators and where they can find food such as insect larvae and plankton.
Each species of salmon fry will remain in freshwater for a determined length of time. Some, like sockeye and silver salmon, will stay in freshwater for a year or two. Others, like pink and chum salmon migrate to sea soon after emergence. King (or Chinook) fry typically remain in freshwater for approximately a year.
As the salmon fry prepare to migrate to sea, they lose their parr marks and enter the next stage of their life, which is the smolt stage. Smolt vary in size by species and normally rear in brackish water where the sea meets freshwater. Smolt grow rapidly and when the salmon reaches a certain size, it will begin its open-ocean migration, and thus enter the adult stage of its life.
Adult salmon will remain in the ocean feeding for a given length of time depending on the species. Kings can stay in saltwater for up to 6 years, while pink salmon are on a two-year cycle, meaning they return to spawn in freshwater as two-year-old fish.
Upon returning to freshwater from the sea, salmon undergo significant physical changes. Some, like sockeye, kings and silvers develop a deep maroon or red coloration. In Southeast Alaska, spawning king salmon are more of a dark brown or blackish color. Chum salmon develop calico bands along each side of their body. Males of each species develop large, hooked jaws, called “kypes.” In addition to developing a kype, male pink and sockeye salmon develop pronounced humps on their back. Consequently, pink salmon are often referred to as “humpys.”
Salmon returning to freshwater to spawn are called “spawners,” which is the next stage of their life. Pacific salmon spawn in the stream or lake they were born in; some spawn in almost the same location where they emerged from their egg. Each species enters freshwater at different times of the year. In many river systems, kings are the first species to return, followed by sockeye, pinks, chums and lastly silvers. Like most naturally occurring events in nature, Pacific salmon run timing isn’t always consistent year-to-year, and pinpointing the day or week of any given month when a particular species of salmon will appear in freshwater is speculative at best.
In their natal stream, salmon begin the migration upriver to reach their spawning ground. The length a salmon will travel to reach the spawning grounds varies by river and by species. There are chum salmon in the Yukon River in Alaska that migrate well over 2,000 miles to reach their spawning grounds.
Once the salmon has reached its spawning grounds, the female and male pair up. The female digs a bed in the gravel called a “redd.” This is where she will deposit her eggs as the male fertilizes them with his milt. After spawning, all species of Pacific salmon die, completing their lifecycle.
How to tell Pink vs Coho salmon
FAQ
How to tell the difference between pink and silver salmon?
Some pinks will have white toward the back of the jaw, but a silver salmon will have a consistent white line along with the entire set of bottom teeth. Tail: The tail might have a few scattered spots, usually on the upper lobe, with silver streaks.
How do you tell the difference between pink salmon and Chinook salmon?
Pink salmon are the smallest and most abundant species and Chinook salmon are the largest (exceeding 50 kilos) but least abundant species. Interestingly, they have exactly the same number of scales.
What’s the difference between salmon and pink salmon?
Pink salmon is in the same genus as red salmon but it is a different species. Red salmon is generally considered to be healthier (it’s fattier and has considerably more omega-3s than pink salmon) and has a more ‘wild’ taste that is generally preferred over the subtle taste of pink salmon.
How to tell the difference between salmons?
Coho Salmon Identification
Like most Pacific Salmon, the easiest way to recognize Coho is by their mouths. They have black mouths like Chinook, but their gums are white. They also have spots along their backs, like Chinook, but they only have spots on the top half of their tails.