sockeye salmon

noun

sock·​eye salmon ˈsäk-ˌī- How to pronounce sockeye salmon (audio)
: a commercially important Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) that is greenish blue above and silvery below when sexually immature and turns red with a greenish head when ascending rivers to spawn which it does chiefly from the Columbia northward

called also red salmon, sockeye

compare kokanee

Examples of sockeye salmon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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The younger Gillam roamed drainages that sustain the world’s largest sockeye salmon runs. ProPublica, 13 Feb. 2025 These employees help monitor the health of the public waters and forests the agency oversees, clearing brush and trees that pose wildfire danger and monitoring the health of Alaska’s sockeye salmon. Nick Bowlin, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018 Signature Adventure: Catch a float plane to Crescent Lake and spend your time on a boat, fishing for sockeye salmon, which fill the lake in July during their annual migration, or lake trout. Graham Averill, Outside Online, 21 Jan. 2025 Just over 5 ounces (150 grams) of sockeye salmon fillet has about 800 IU of vitamin D. Lina Begdache, The Conversation, 7 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for sockeye salmon

Word History

Etymology

by folk etymology from Northern Straits (Salishan language of southern Vancouver Island and nearby islands) sə́qəy̓

First Known Use

1869, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of sockeye salmon was in 1869

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Sockeye salmon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sockeye%20salmon. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.

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