Description
The female, tired after her long journey through many thousands of miles of ocean and river makes her way to the stream where she was born. With her last energy she digs depression in the stream bottom with her fins. The males circle expectantly - their long hook noses and large teeth grown just for this occaision. They jostle and bump one another while holding their spots against the current. When she is ready she lays long strings of pink jewelled eggs into the depression. The males go wild. The water becomes frothy with their aggressive dance. They spray the eggs with their milt and the female slowly covers them with stream debris. Now we wait for the hatchlings to begin theri long journey out to sea and back again to this same stream. miraculous. Humans, bears, cedars and eagles and many others have depended upon this indicator species for milennia. Now they need our protection if this icon is to survive and coastal ecosytems are to remain healthy intact.
