Pacific salmon

Scientific Name: – Oncorhynchus

Oncorhynchus is a genus of fish in the family Salmonidae; it contains the Pacific salmon and Pacific trout. The name of the genus is derived from the Greek onkos (“hook”) and rynchos (“nose”), in reference to the hooked jaws of males in the mating season (the “kype”).
Salmon and trout with native ranges in waters draining to the Pacific Ocean are members of the genus. Their range extends from Beringia southwards, roughly to Japan in the west and Mexico to the east. In North America, some subspecies of O. clarki are native in the Rocky Mountains and Great Basin, while others are native to the Rio Grande and western tributaries of the Mississippi River Basin which drain to the Gulf of Mexico, rather than to the Pacific. Several species of Oncorhynchus have been introduced into non-native waters around the globe establishing self-sustaining wild populations.

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