Masu salmon
| Oncorhynchus masou | |
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| Juvenile Oncorhynchus masou | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Salmoniformes |
| Family: | Salmonidae |
| Genus: | Oncorhynchus |
| Species: | O. masou |
| Binomial name | |
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Oncorhynchus masou (Brevoort, 1856) |
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Oncorhynchus masou, known as the masu salmon, masu, or the cherry salmon, is a species of salmon found in the Western Pacific Ocean along East Asia, ranging from the Kamchatka, Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, and Primorsky Krai south through Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. A number of subspecies are known, including the anadromous, widespread masu Oncorhynchus masou masou (e.g. in Korea, Japan), the critically endangered, landlocked Taiwanese or Formosan salmon Oncorhynchus masou formosanus found in certain freshwater systems of Taiwan, the Biwa trout endemic of Lake Biwa, and the anadromous or stream-dwelling amago Oncorhynchus masou macrostomus restricted to western Japan.
On average, this salmon prefers a temperate climate, around the area of 65-58°N, and in the sea, it prefers a depth range of 0–200 m.
A masu salmon which has reached sexual maturity has a darkened back, and the stripes on the body sides become bright red with crimson tinge to merge on the abdomen into one common longitudinal band of lighter color. For this reason,it was given the name cherry salmon.
As adults, masu salmon tend to weigh 2.0 to 2.5 kg and measure roughly 50 cm in length. The maximum size that can be attained by this species (which is in the region of Primorsky Krai) is 71 cm long and 9 kg in weight.
Like other Pacific salmon, its lifecycle is subdivided into marine and freshwater periods; in rivers, this species lives from 1 to 3 years and can form living freshwater forms. The sea lifecycle, depending on the age of the young, continues for 2.0 to 3.5 years. In the sea, the masu salmon feeds intensely on crustaceans, less often on young fish. On attaining sexual maturity, in its third to seventh years of life, it enters rivers to spawn. Its spawning run starts earlier than that of other salmon species.
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Wikipedia