Chum salmon
Oncorhynchus keta
- Usual depth5–19 m
- Water temperature3–12 °C
- Best monthsMay and June
- How commonCommon
Photo credit: (c) Kevin Brix, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
About this species
The chum salmon, also known as dog salmon or keta salmon, is a species of anadromous salmonid fish from the genus Oncorhynchus native to the coastal rivers of the North Pacific and the Beringian Arctic. The English name "chum salmon" comes from the Chinook Jargon term tsəm, meaning "spotted" or "marked"; while keta in the scientific name comes from Russian, which in turn comes from the Evenki language of Eastern Siberia.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Chum salmon”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 37 records
- February: 13 records
- March: 118 records
- April: 368 records
- May: 3,464 records
- June: 3,583 records
- July: 1,410 records
- August: 1,044 records
- September: 588 records
- October: 1,040 records
- November: 1,436 records
- December: 137 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 5–19 m · Deepest record: 907.9 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 3–12 °C
Photos
(c) Catie Clune, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Liam Steele, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) znot, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Sean Vanderluit, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Chum salmon, Dog salmon, Keta salmon, Calico salmon, Chum, chum salmon, dog salmon, Fall salmon, Qualla, Summer chum
Names in 6 more languages
- German
- Chumlachs, Hundslachs, Ketalachs, Roter Kaviar
- Spanish
- Chum, keta, Keta, Salmó, Salmon 'chum', Salmón Chum
- French
- saumon chien, Saumon chien, Saumon-chien, Saumon du Pacifique, Saumon keta, Saumon-keta, saumon kéta
- Japanese
- Sake, サケ
- Korean
- 연어
- Simplified Chinese
- 大麻哈魚
Other scientific names: Oncorhynchus canis, Oncorhynchus consuetus, Oncorhynchus dermatinus, Oncorhynchus lagocephalus, Salmo canis, Salmo consuetus, Salmo dermatinus, Salmo keta, Salmo lagocephalus
Similar species
Rainbow troutOncorhynchus mykiss
KokaneeOncorhynchus nerka
Chinook salmonOncorhynchus tshawytscha
Cherry salmonOncorhynchus masou
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 92,968 open-data records from 1880 to 2023.
- Species data updated November 5, 2026.
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