ComradeSharkfucker ( @sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml ) English164•2 months agoWhy?
The goals of the Salmon change when they reach mating age. Now they don’t need to survive in the ocean, they need to make sperm/eggs and survive the long trip to their birthplace. This trip is through fresh water lakes and rivers. That is a very different environment from the ocean. They will need to jump/swim up waterfalls. They will need to avoid predators, but very different ones than they faced in the ocean.At the end of their journey they will mate and die.
Because the goals and environmental pressures change so much the Salmon must also change to meet those new challenges. If they didn’t they wouldn’t be as successful in reaching their final destination and making more Salmon.
How?
Just like humans, hormones trigger biological changes. The change to fresh water also triggers changes and a countdown clock. The changes use a lot of energy, as does their trip and mating. Their body will literally consume itself to make the changes and meet the challenges it needs to so that the salmon make it home to mate.
In case anyone was curious
nick ( @nick@midwest.social ) English74•2 months agoIf there’s one person on lemmy that I trust for my aquatic animal info, it’s sharkfucker420
nightofmichelinstars ( @nightofmichelinstars@sopuli.xyz ) English42•2 months agoThank you. My takeaway is that this is salmon puberty. I wonder if they, too, stare at themselves naked in the bathroom mirror and feel weird.
Paradachshund ( @Paradachshund@lemmy.today ) English35•2 months agoHis humps, his humps his humps his humps
Dr. Wesker ( @wesker@lemmy.sdf.org ) English29•2 months agoI’ve seen this happen to human men who got too horny, tbh.
IrritableOcelot ( @IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org ) English27•2 months agoPhotoshopped, unfortunately. They change, but not that much.
OtisRamflow ( @OtisRamflow@lemm.ee ) English41•2 months agoMight be exaggerated, but some get pretty crazy looking.
https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=714
steal_your_face ( @steal_your_face@lemmy.ml ) English5•2 months agoWhat’s everyone’s favorite? Mine’s coho.
OtisRamflow ( @OtisRamflow@lemm.ee ) English3•2 months agoChinook, looks like hot iron.
Kedly ( @Kedly@lemm.ee ) English3•2 months agoWelp, Lemmy’s now able to hug a site to death now too! We did it Lemmy!
Syd ( @Syd@lemm.ee ) English2•2 months agoIt’s going strong here. Have you been banned from Alaska recently?
Kedly ( @Kedly@lemm.ee ) English2•2 months agoAh, it works for me now too. I guess it was a short hug of death xD
SoleInvictus ( @SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) English23•2 months agoOh no, they change that much and sometimes even more. The hump is a sexual selection trait - the bigger the hump, the more likely it is that a male will get to mate. This favors genotypes that lead to a big ol’ hump. While not all pink salmon get a hump that large, the Barry Whites of the humpy salmon world have a great big shoulder boulder that makes the lady fish swoon.
Here’s one of those fishy freaks: https://www.landbigfish.com/articles/default.cfm?ID=352
IrritableOcelot ( @IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org ) English5•2 months agoAhhhh it’s a humpy, I stand corrected. Not familiar with them. That’s absolutely wild!
SoleInvictus ( @SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) English6•2 months agoThey’re so weird! Imagine going through your life sleek and swift, just to turn into Quasimodo once you hit puberty. Then you die.
shikitohno ( @shikitohno@lemm.ee ) English11•2 months agoProbably not photoshopped, more likely just different species and the one on the bottom has been butterflied and laid with the meat touching the ground so it looks much larger. Neither one has really started to change that much at the point these pictures were taken. Towards the end of the season, at least for west coast salmon, they’ll often get a lot leaner and their scales turn a super vivid red. As they lose their fat reserves, the meat also becomes much more delicate.
EldritchFeminity ( @EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) English5•2 months agoThe second one doesn’t seem to be butterflied, as it would be missing a dorsal fin if it was, and the skin color is asymmetrical. They’re 2 different species imo, but I’m only familiar with Atlantic salmon so I can’t say for sure. Atlantic salmon normally look like the top one and get an upturned hook mouth but don’t really change color.
🇰 🔵 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️ ( @Kolanaki@yiffit.net ) English16•2 months agoThis is a good way to illustrate what “gooning” is.
Cruxifux ( @Cruxifux@feddit.nl ) English8•2 months agoSame
lightnsfw ( @lightnsfw@reddthat.com ) English6•2 months agoHappens to the best of us.
JoYo ( @JoYo@lemmy.ml ) English5•2 months agoare they still salmon colored?
Pyr_Pressure ( @Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca ) English4•2 months agoBecause they do not need to survive like that for long lol they die like immediately after.