Why does it turn red?

It is spawning. The body reddens, the head goes green, the jaw hooks, and the fish stops feeding for good. Everything it has left goes into the gravel and then into the bears, the birds, and the trees along the bank.

• Field marksCrimson body, olive head, hooked jaw in spawning adults.
• SizeCommonly 60 to 80cm at return.
• WaterSpawning runs, Pacific
• Verified byA working naturalist. Named in full on the colophon.