Insight into the Salmonines of California

Abstract

California is home to an astounding 32 distinct species of salmonids with 20 of them being endemic and 21 of them being anadromous species, depicting the necessity of the Pacific Ocean. The California Current is one of the most productive regions in the world which many of these species utilize during their growth and maturation into reproductive adults (Moyle 2002). The cold California Current flows from North to South, down the California coastline bringing nutrient-rich productive water. With such a productive system, it has been colonized by many marine species such as Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), coho salmon (O. kisutch), and steelhead trout (O. mykiss). These species are an important piece of California’s history because they hold high cultural and economic importance and are umbrella species for the conservation of the greater aquatic environment as well as sentinel species as their presence helps sustain the biota associated with them (Moyle et al. 2017)