The king salmon is often known as Chinook, tyee, Colombia River salmon, black salmon, chub salmon, hook bill salmon, winter salmon and blackmouth.

In North America, it's range is in the Pacific ocean along the coast and up the tributaries from Santa Barbara, California to Alaska. In Asia, the king salmon range is from the Anadyr River area of Siberia and south to Hokkaido, Japan.

The king salmon will spend between 1 and 8 years in the ocean before returning to its spawning stream to spawn.

The largest recorded king salmon ever caught was 126 pounds from a fish trap in 1949 in Petersburg, Alaska. The largest king salmon ever caught for sport was a 97 pound fish caught in the Kenai River in 1986.

King salmon are regularly over 30 pounds.

Appearance: While in the ocean, the king salmon is bluish green in color, dark on the top, fading to silver on the sides and white on the belly, with black spots along the back and black along the mouth. When they travel along the tributaries to freshwater to spawn, the fish undergo a change in appearance. They change from blue green to deep red, and their jaw changes slightly to develop that hook that they are famous for.

King Salmon fishing is limited by the Pacific Salmon Treaty, which ensures that the United States and Canada work together to keep from over-fishing the salmon.

All King salmon die after spawning.