Chum Salmon Spawn!

Chum Salmon Spawn!

Chum Salmon Spawn!

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In a crystal-clear pool in the Cheakamus River valley upstream from Squamish, I watch a female Chum salmon dig her nest as males jockey around her for position. Then, with remarkable luck, I catch the moment she releases her eggs and males rush in to fertilize them with clouds of sperm, mouths agape. 

A quiet pond
The Chum salmon spawn in a groundwater-fed pond, filled with crystal-clear waters
Male chum salmon underwater
Male Chum salmon, schooling around a nest dug by a female
Female chum salmon dropping eggs
My camera catches the female dropping her eggs while males blanket the eggs with milky sperm
Chum salmon underwater
The female (center) flanked by three males, is trying laying eggs.
She continues to dig her nest, and lay eggs, with the water clouded by sperm
Bob waiting by the water
Patience I have learned, pays off