Coho Salmon (oncorhynchus kisutch)

Diet

Aquatic insects, small fish, and plankton during different life stages.

Behavior

Coho salmon exhibit typical migratory behavior but some populations are noted for unusual timing and river navigation. Rangers report instances where individuals appear in small tributaries outside normal spawning season or travel upstream in near-impossible currents. Occasional sightings suggest salmon disappear into underwater crevices, only to reappear meters away moments later.

Habitat

Coho salmon inhabit the cold, oxygen-rich waters of Spectral Valley’s interconnected rivers and streams, including Stillbone River, Liar’s Stream, and the lower channels of the Coastal Lowlands. Juveniles thrive in shaded tributaries and brackish estuaries, where they feed among submerged reeds before their migration to sea. Each autumn, adults return inland, following subtle changes in temperature and magnetic drift. In certain stretches of the Lowlands, water seems to shimmer unnaturally under moonlight. Rangers say the salmon surface there in unison, as though responding to something unheard beneath the current.

Role in Ecosystem

Important prey species for larger fish, birds, and mammals; contributes nutrients to freshwater and riparian ecosystems during spawning runs.

Folklore and Cultural Notes

Local fishers and rangers tell of “the returning light”, a tale that the coho carry fragments of the moon’s reflection in their scales, guiding them back upstream through fog and darkness. Older residents of the coastal lowlands claim that when the salmon glow beneath the water, it marks a shift in the valley’s rhythm. In folklore, to see a single coho leap under starlight without rippling the water is an omen of renewal, or sometimes a warning that something long-dormant has begun to stir beneath the riverbeds.