AnimalvsAnimal
Pair of Chinook salmon🐟

Photo: Dan Cook (USFWS) · Public domain

SpeciesSalmoniformesSalmonidae
Fish

🐟Chinook salmon

Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Walbaum, 1792)

The Chinook salmon is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other vernacular names for the species include king salmon, quinnat salmon, tsumen, spring salmon, blackmouth, and tyee salmon. The scientific species name is based on the Russian common name chavycha (чавыча).

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
4
Photos
1
Measurements
7
vs you
≈ half your weight
Also called
Chinook, king salmon
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2024.

Population trendUnknown
Key measurements
Body mass
34 kg
Body length
0.7 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
9 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Chinook salmon

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
34 kgrecord 61 kg · FishBase
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Body length
0.7 mrecord 1.5 m · FishBasetypical adult
FishBase
Details ↓

Record: largest individual on record

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Maximum lifespan
9 yearsrecord 9 years · FishBase
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
4.4
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04, estimate table · CC BY-NC 4.0

Diet
carnivoreaverage
Details ↓

From trophic level 4.4 (FishBase): <2.2 herbivore, 2.2–2.8 omnivore, >2.8 carnivore.

Danger to humans
potential pest
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Volume l
34 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Chinook salmon yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›orderSalmoniformes
  4. ›familySalmonidae
  5. ›genusOncorhynchus
  6. ›speciesOncorhynchus tshawytscha
Full lineage
  1. superclassRay-finned fish · Actinopterygii
  2. familySalmonidae
  3. subfamilySalmoninae
  4. genusOncorhynchus
All 12 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassRay-finned fish · Actinopterygii
  7. classActinopteri
  8. subclassNeopterygii
  9. orderSalmoniformes
  10. familySalmonidae
  11. subfamilySalmoninae
  12. genusOncorhynchus
More

More about the Chinook salmon

In other languages
kuningaslohi (fi), чавыча (ru), Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (pt), Czawycza (pl), Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (fr), Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (es) … and 22 more languages

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Scaling lab

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Tree of life

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