Our first field trip was a huge success and a lot of fun! Off we went to the Issaquah Fish Hatchery and learned a ton about salmon. 4th grade is so lucky to be the group at North Beach that gets to raise salmon from eggs to fry and it is a super fun experience!
We split into groups and got a great tour from the wonderful FISH volunteers.
Salmon were actually swimming up stream and trying to spawn in the river.
We learned that as the salmon started coming in from the ocean, their body emits a certain chemical that starts to break down their bodies before they are even dead. Their fins turn white because they are actually starting to decompose while they are alive!
The salmon here had already spawned and died. Ask your student why we should leave the salmon there to decompose in the river instead of removing it.
The salmon tried as hard as they could to jump over the weir and get upstream. Their brains literally only are programmed to get to a place where they can spawn at this point so they get pretty beat up.
This is the salmon ladder that the salmon climb up to get to the spawning tank.
This salmon was pretty beat up. All of the white portions are parts that are starting to decompose on the salmon.
Greg, our amazing volunteer, showed us the life cycle of a salmon.
You know it's been a good field trip with Lily B. and Lily P. are fast asleep on the bus ride home!
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