Valdez Pier
The salmon that return to spawn up the West coast rivers each year are the life's blood of plants and animals far inland. The fish strain and push their dying bodies up-river to lay their eggs. The salmon encounter many gauntlets that pose a threat to their successful reproduction including waterfalls, bald eagles, grizzlies, sea lions, and humans.
Sea Lion So Full
However, when the rivers are not dammed or overfished by humans, the salmon are tremendously successful in laying their eggs upstream and eventually the spawn grow into large fish and return to the sea.
Salmon Run
Each July, as the salmon return to their spawning ground, many fish become a feast for predators. Fish that escape the clutch of talon and jaw complete their journey upriver, to spawn and then to die. The salmon bodies decompose in the river.
Salmon
Salmon, once a part of the ocean food web, become integral to the terrestrial food web. The energy and nutrients stored in the fish tissue move into the soil of the tundra or mountains, as the eagles and bear spread their bounty far from the river that the fish were harvested from. The bear and eagle poop contain the remains of the fish and thus become fertilizer for herb and tree. Fish tissue becomes bear tissue which then becomes fungal tissue, as even the bear will one day die and decompose.
Even Grizzlies Die