Salmon Program
2024 Salmon Program Timeline! Check back often to see the salmon updates!
January 4th - Our salmon eggs arrived and are already getting comfortable in our salmon tank.
January 10th - Our salmon eggs are starting to hatch. If you look closely, you’ll notice a gold rim around their black eyes. It’s a sign that they’re about to hatch out of their eggs and they have reached the “sac-fry” stage. At this stage, they’ll stay near the gravel and live off the nutrients in its sac. You may also notice that there may be bright pink and opaque eggs. The eggs do not survive this stage and will be removed from the tank. Just like in nature, many of these salmon will not make it to the next stage. The strongest ones will survive.
February - The salmon have become alevin!
March - The salmon have become fry! They are now swimming all around the tank. The students will now have to feed our salmon three times a day!
March - Our salmon have a new name! Our students submitted names and voted on their favorite...our salmon are now called The Swifties!
Where can you see even more salmon?
There are a few local places that you can visit now to watch the salmon arrive: Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery in Issaquah and the Ballard Locks Fish Ladder in Ballard, Seattle
If you’re lucky (and patient), you may be able to find salmon in our local creeks as well. Our Wilder Students have been releasing salmon fry into Colin Creek behind our school in hopes they’ll return to spawn.
Here are some useful links to learn more about the salmon of our community!
- Issaquah Fish Hatchery - https://www.issaquahfish.org/
- Ballard Locks Fish Ladder - https://ballardlocks.org/fish-salmon-ladder.html
- Wilder Salmon Program - https://wilderptsa.ptoffice.com/salmon-program/
- Local viewing areas: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/779f2239705a42fba71f198d958da479/?data_id=dataSource_2-Salmon_viewing_sites_8034%3A7