Also known as red salmon because of it’s bright red-orange flesh, sockeye salmon has the fishiest scent and flavor of all the types of salmon. So beyond that, what are the different types? Our 22 Best Crock Pot and Slow-Cooker Recipes. The latter tends to result in healthier, happier fish with more nutrients. So, there are six types of Salmon in North America: five Pacific Salmon, one Atlantic Salmon. Pink salmons’ habitats include coastal and fresh waters (lakes). But because Atlantic salmon is endangered, it’s almost predominantly farmed-raised. What to know: Light-colored, mild, low in fat, small. Food & Wine is part of the Meredith Corporation Allrecipes Food Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. But you can also broil it to get it a little crispy and carmelized (which is great for any sauces or marinades you may be using). Sockeye is also a heck of a lot cheaper, often retailing $15 to $20 per pound, possibly more depending on the river—Columbia and Copper tend to command more because of name recognition. 14) Black Sea Salmon . Humans are the biggest consumer and threat to salmon. Pink salmons feed on squid, small fish, zooplankton, and small crustaceans. The hue of the filet can be as red as Sockeye, any shade of pink or orange and, even white or marbled. Stephen Gibson / EyeEm/Getty Images, Credit: Sockeye salmon are known for their bright red flesh and their bold, salmon-y scent. “They are calmer, more efficient, more disease resistant, grow faster and have higher fillet yields among other traits,” says Mike Rust, NOAA Fisheries Office of Aquaculture. 7. It is a small salmon as compared to other types of salmon fishes and tastes similar to the different varieties. It’s usually leaner than both king salmon and silver salmon. It has a very light-colored, pink flesh that’s very mild and low in fat. Trick question: it’s the same thing! Boosts immunity. The Atlantic salmon (a farmed species) is one of the most common varieties of salmon fish you will find in the market. Yes, it has a lot of the same nutrients (proteins and omega fatty acids) that the flesh does. To confuse matters, each of these has at least one other name as well as their Latin name, as noted below. More fishermen are also starting to process chum filets, but it’s not as common. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, salmon is mostly wild-caught in Alaska, Washington, and Oregon from the Pacific ocean. All Rights Reserved. According to the FDA, if you do buy fresh salmon, you can store it in the refrigerator for up to two days at 40 degrees [source]. Coho is milder and often lighter in color. Salmon is also low in mercury, and safe enough even for pregnant women to eat — in fact, it's recommended for healthy fetal growth and development. Wild-caught salmon usually have less saturated fat compared to farmed salmon. eyecrave/Getty Images, Credit: Salmon Species . Atlantic salmon falls under the Salmo genera, which also includes brown trout. Do your research. “You can just stuff Cohos full of herbs and cook the whole thing on the grill.”. Research shows eating salmon daily prevents ADHD symptoms and can boost academic performance [6]. (More About Me). We’ve assembled a list of 50 of the world’s most reliable, inexpensive wines – bottles that offer amazing quality for their price year in and year out. While the practice has been criticized as unsustainable in the past, it just depends on where it comes from. Sockeye, coho and king salmon have the deepest color orange whereas pink and chum salmon (most often canned) are the lightest. It’s a smaller breed with less fat. Image zoom. I'm a culinary school graduate, cookbook author, and a mom who loves croissants! To prepare you for this year’s wild salmon season, which just started ramping up in Washington and Oregon’s Columbia River, we spoke to three West Coast seafood specialists to put together a handy guide to every type of salmon one can find in the United States. It may taste delicious, but it’s not always sustainable. The three popular types of wild Alaskan salmon are king salmon (chinook salmon), silverbite (chum salmon), and sockeye salmon (red salmon). Because it eats all the way up the river, rather than gorging itself and starving on its way to procreate, “Steelhead is much leaner,” says Adams. There really isn't any clear difference between wild and domestic. The latter tends to be found in fish caught in Northern British Columbia and Southeast Alaska. Many of Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch “Best Choice” picks for salmon are actually raised on farms nowadays. You’ll also readily find sockeye salmon, which has a rich color and taste, as well as a firm texture. Salmon flesh is generally orange to red, although there are some examples of white-fleshed wild salmon. Nutritionists tout salmon for its health benefits. It’s mostly used to produce canned salmon products, but it can be eaten as filets as well. According to scientists, the pink salmon is the smallest of the Pacific salmon species whose numbers seem to be thriving. It’s much lighter than other types of salmon, more of a pale pink than bright red. It means the fisherman caught each salmon individually with a traditional hook and line method and then immediately put it on ice to preserve freshness. And there are a wide variety of health benefits you reap if you eat salmon every day. Everything you see in stores or restaurants with the label “Atlantic salmon” is farm-raised. Meanwhile, not all wild-caught salmon are treated equally either. “One of my favorite runs is Quinault River,” says Cimarusti, who gets his pick direct from the Quinault Indian Nation. Salmon are prey for a large variety of sea creatures, including whales, seals and sea lions. There are several different types, cuts, and ways to cook it. When you see fresh salmon in the case at your supermarket, it can be misleading. Pacific Smoked Salmon A category used to describe different species and types of salmon usually found in the Pacific Ocean, most commonly from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, and Canada. Again, ask questions. derketta/Getty Images, Credit: At the Yukon River, for example, where they start running earlier than the more highly sought-after species, fisherman have been increasingly starting to handle Keta in the same way they do their pricier Kings and Sockeye, processing them for their filets rather than canned meat. Coho are smaller and eat less than other salmon, resulting in fewer polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which may cause cancer. It’s a common practice — sometimes the additive is still natural, other times it’s not. Cook Salmon, and Farmed Canadian Salmon to name a few. “It tastes more like rainbow trout than salmon.”, Steelhead is also raised in farms, available throughout the year mostly on restaurant menus. We won’t go back into the details of every fish, but let’s go over the signature things that set each species apart. Wild salmon contains less saturated fat and calories, but provides more protein, making it ideal for dieting. Sockeye salmon are known for their bright red flesh and their bold, salmon-y scent. There are chefs, like Cimarusti, who won’t use any fish other than wild-caught. It’s usually leaner than both king salmon and silver salmon. It’s almost like eating a different species depending on how and where it’s grown. For instance, fish that eat lots of shrimp tend to have the pinkest flesh. Wild Atlantic salmon is no longer commercially available—what you find in stores and on restaurant menus is all farm-raised—but small, endangered populations still live in watersheds that drain into both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The quality of that fish is incredible.”. Chum has a lighter texture and a milder flavor than other types of salmon. It looks like salmon and its flavor is somewhere between salmon and trout, slightly more like trout. Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon has large black spots on the gill cover. Wild-caught Pacific salmon are typically considered to be the best salmon to eat. They are listed by the most common names you'll likely see at … The first thing to know about the different types of salmon is that they come from both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and salmon can be farm-raised or wild-caught. Its medium fat content gives it a mild, subtle flavor that is less in-your-face. This post may contain affiliate links. Typically, Steelhead weigh about eight pounds. It’s one of the rarest species—in 2016, a mere 11,862,243-pound of King salmon were caught in U.S. waters compared to 287,251,862-pound of Sockeye—which is why it’s so damn pricey. The presence of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin A, and selenium in salmon can strengthen the immune system. King salmon caught from prestige rivers like Copper or Columbia Rivers can easily fetch $50 a pound retail. The six species of North American salmon vary in price, color and taste, but all are healthy choices. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. 7. There’s a reason this species is at the top of the list and earned itself the royal moniker: King salmon is considered by many to be the best salmon money can buy. When salmon return to fresh water to spawn, bears and eagles are their most common predators. Otherwise, there’s a good chance your salmon was frozen in some capacity. “They’re going to be a bit more loaded with Omega 3’s, which usually translates to fattiness and flavor.”.