Pink salmon is the largest and smallest salmon. Pink salmon meat, although slightly inferior to most Pacific salmon, is still a very tasty and nutritious product. In stores, pink salmon can be bought both frozen and chilled, as well as smoked and salted. Males of pink salmon are fatter than females, but females have tasty caviar. So how can you tell them apart when buying?
Instructions
Step 1
The female pink salmon is usually smaller in size than the male. Some males of pink salmon can reach 4–4, 5 kg in weight, while the average weight of a female is 1.5–2 kg. But in fact, this is not an indicator, since the size of the fish depends on its habitat; in some regions, the size of the male may be as little as 350-500 g.
Step 2
Female meat is generally drier than male meat. But this sign can only be determined by tasting fish meat. In appearance, especially if the fish is frozen, it is impossible to say whether its meat is fat or not.
Step 3
You can accurately distinguish a male pink salmon from a female in a store by their color. If you compare her, you can see that the female, as is often the case in nature, has a more ordinary-looking appearance. She has smoother outlines and color transitions, in general she looks grayish and rustic, while the male, on the contrary, looks brighter and coarser.
Step 4
Another reliable way to distinguish a female from a male pink salmon is to compare their heads, or rather the shape of their heads. The male's head is more elongated and sharper. The jaws are rather strongly elongated and, as it were, curved upwards. Outwardly, the male's muzzle has a rather predatory appearance. The female's head is slightly smaller, more rounded and with a much blunt nose.
Step 5
Also, in the female pink salmon, the heel fin has a slight elongation, while in the male this same fin is absolutely even, which is why it is slightly smaller in size.
Step 6
If the male pink salmon managed to be spawning, then it can be easily identified by its back. In addition to the fact that both males and females polish and acquire a brown-white-green color, males, among other things, when they enter fresh water, acquire a different body shape. A kind of characteristic hump appears on their back (hence the name of the fish - pink salmon). The back of the females remains flat and fairly straight.
