Chum salmon
Oncorhynchus keta (Walbaum, 1792)
Status not recordedbony fish
Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) is a bony fish in the family Salmonidae, subfamily Salmoninae, within the order Salmoniformes. It is also called Dog salmon, Keta salmon and Calico salmon.
Quick facts about the chum salmon
Its scientific name carries the authority (Walbaum, 1792), and its habitat is marine.
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- marinesrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the chum salmon
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the chum salmon live?
Not recorded
What is the chum salmon?
The chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta), also known as dog salmon or keta salmon, is a species of anadromous salmonid fish from the genus Oncorhynchus (Pacific salmon) native to the coastal rivers of the North Pacific and the Beringian Arctic. The English name "chum salmon" comes from the Chinook Jargon term tsəm, meaning "spotted" or "marked"; while keta in the scientific name comes from Russian, which in turn comes from the Evenki language of Eastern Siberia.
In Japan, chum salmon is also known as the white salmon (白鮭 シロサケ, shiro sake), autumn salmon (秋鮭 アキサケ, aki sake) or simply "the salmon" (鮭 サケ, sa ke), while historically it was known in kun'yomi as "stone katsura fish" (石桂魚 さけ, sa ke) up until the Meiji period. In Greater China, it is known academically as the "hook-snout salmon" (Chinese: 钩吻鲑), but is more often called the damaha fish (simplified Chinese: 大马哈鱼; traditional Chinese: 大麻哈魚), which is borrowed from dawa ịmaχa, the Nanai name of the fish used by the Hezhe minority in northern Northeast China.
From the Wikipedia article “Chum salmon” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chum_salmon&oldid=1383373647), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the chum salmon endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the chum salmon classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classTeleostei
- orderSalmoniformes
- familySalmonidae
- genusOncorhynchus
- SpeciesOncorhynchus keta (Walbaum, 1792)
Synonyms Oncorhynchus canis, Oncorhynchus consuetus, Oncorhynchus dermatinus, Oncorhynchus lagocephalus, Salmo canis, Salmo consuetus, Salmo dermatinus, Salmo keta, Salmo lagocephalus
Other names and names in other languages (28)
- Calico salmonEnglish
- Calico salmonEnglish
- Dog salmonEnglish
- Keta salmonEnglish
- losos ketaCzech
- KetalachsGerman
- SolomosGreek
- ketaSpanish
- Salmón ChumSpanish
- IqallukCentral Yupik
- koiralohiFinnish
- saumon kétaFrench
- saumon chienFrench
- HumHaida
- Nalaying
- Salmone ketaItalian
- サケJapanese
- 연어Korean
- Srughot'ayekuu
- KetlasisLatvian
- ketalaksNorwegian Bokmål
- ketazalmDutch
- chum zalmDutch
- ketalaksNorwegian Nynorsk
- Salmão-cãoPortuguese
- КетаRussian
- Alimatfn
- 大麻哈魚Chinese
Relatives of the chum salmon
Other species in the same genus Oncorhynchus.
Rainbow trout
Oncorhynchus mykiss
Pink salmon
Oncorhynchus gorbuscha
Sockeye salmon
Oncorhynchus nerka
Chinook salmon
Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
Coho salmon
Oncorhynchus kisutch
Clark's trout
Oncorhynchus clarkii
CompareChum salmon vs Rainbow troutChum salmon vs Pink salmonChum salmon vs Sockeye salmonChum salmon vs Chinook salmon
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the chum salmon?
The chum salmon is a bony fish. It belongs to the family Salmonidae in the order Salmoniformes.
What is the scientific name of the chum salmon?
The scientific name of the chum salmon is Oncorhynchus keta, placing it in the genus Oncorhynchus.
What other names does the chum salmon have?
The chum salmon is also called Dog salmon, Keta salmon and Calico salmon.
Who named the chum salmon and when?
The authority for Oncorhynchus keta is (Walbaum, 1792).
What is the habitat of the chum salmon?
The habitat of the chum salmon is marine.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/chum-salmon
“Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/chum-salmon.
@misc{chum_salmon_2026,
title = {Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/chum-salmon},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}