Chinook Salmon

The body of the chinook salmon is elongate and somewhat compressed. The head is conical. The color is bluish to dark gray above, becoming silvery on the sides and belly. There are black spots on the back and on both lobes of the tail. While five species of salmon occur along the Pacific Coast, over 99% of all salmon caught in the ocean off California are either chinook or cohos. Chinook and coho salmon can be distinguished by the color of the lining of the gums at the base of the teeth. In chinook salmon, this lining is blackish, while in cohos it is white.