Kokanee pictures

King County, Washington

Photos of Lake Sammamish kokanee, a freshwater sockeye salmon that lives its life in the lake rather than migrating to food-rich salt water. These kokanee photos were taken in during the spawning runs in creeks that flow into Lake Sammamish and fish were in their spawning colors. Kokanee living in lakes look more silvery and are commonly known as "silver trout" or "bluebacks."

A male and female pair up for spawning in the oxygen rich waters of Ebright Creek — A male and female pair up for spawning in the bubbly of Ebright Creek, photo by Roger Tabor, USFWS

Kokanee pair up to spawn in restored habitat in Ebright Creek, Sammamish — Kokanee pair up to spawn in restored habitat in Ebright Creek, Sammamish. Photo by Roger Tabor, USFWS

Lake Sammamish kokanee in Ebright Creek, Sammamish — Lake Sammamish kokanee in Ebright Creek, Sammamish. Photo by Roger Tabor, USFWS

A male (background) and female (foreground) pair up to spawn in Ebright Creek — A male (background) and female (foreground) pair up to spawn in Ebright Creek, photo by Roger Tabor, USFWS

Ebright Creek is the site of a restoration project aimed at increasing stream and spawning habitat — Ebright Creek is the site of a restoration project that opened good habitat for migrating fish, photo by Roger Tabor, USFWS

Picture of a pair of spawning kokanee in Lewis Creek near Issaquah, Washington — Kokanee spawning pair in Lewis Creek - photo by Bill Priest ©

Picture of a male kokanee, courtesy of Scott Craig — Male kokanee - photo by Scott Craig ©

Picture of kokanee in Lewis Creek near Issaquah, Washington — Male kokanee or land-locked sockeye salmon, showing size - Ebright Creek

Picture of a male kokanee salmon from a 2003 survey of Laughing Jacobs Creek, Sammamish, WA — Male kokanee salmon from Laughing Jacobs Creek

Picture of a male kokanee from a 2003 survey of Laughing Jacobs Creek, Sammamish, Washington — Male kokanee from a 2003 survey of Laughing Jacobs Creek

Picture of a male kokanee salmon from a 2003 survey of Laughing Jacobs Creek, a Lake Sammamish tributary — Male kokanee from a 2003 survey of Laughing Jacobs Creek

Picture of a male kokanee showing its relative size, from Laughing Jacobs Creek, Sammamish, WA — Male kokanee showing it's relative size, from Laughing Jacobs Creek

Photo of male kokanee carcasses from a 2008 survey of Lewis and Ebright Creeks, tributaries to Lake Sammamish — Dead male kokanee from a 2008 survey of Lewis Creek and Ebright Creek

female kokanee or "silver trout" from issaquah creek — Female kokanee from Issaquah Creek

female kokanee from Laughing Jacobs Creek, King County, WA — Female kokanee from Laughing Jacobs Creek

Female kokanee indicating relative size - Lewis Creek — Female kokanee size - Lewis Creek

female kokanee salmon from issaquah creek — Spawned female kokanee - Issaquah Creek

Picture of an Ebright Creek kokanee swimming and finning with back out of the water - photo by Vali Eberhardt — Kokanee running up Ebright Creek - photo by Vali Eberhardt ©

Kokanee among the cobbles of Lewis Creek

Picture of a kokanee in Lewis Creek riffles — Kokanee in the riffles of Lewis Creek

Picture of a kokanee in the riffles from a 2003 survey of Lewis Creek and Ebright Creek — Kokanee in a run on Lewis Creek

Biologists inspect kokanee on Lewis Creek and Ebright Creek survey — Biologists dissect a dead kokaneeon a survey of Lewis Creek and Ebright Creek

Photos are by Hans Berge and Tim O'Leary unless otherwise noted.

For questions about Lake Sammamish kokanee and these photos, please contact Alison Agness, Kokanee Recovery Manager, WLRD Regional Partnerships Unit.

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