Size

• King salmon, also called chinook, average 10 to 15 pounds, with some rare kings weighing up to 100 pounds. Sockeye salmon are smaller, averaging 5 to 8 pounds, with a maximum weight of 15 pounds.
  
  

Age

• The life span of all salmon is the same, about two to seven years; the cause of death is usually fishing, illness or natural predators.
  
  

Feeding

• King salmon feed on small fish and bugs in the water. Sockeye salmon have a unique way of eating called filter feeding: They drink in water with plankton and expel the water through gill rakers, which retain the plankton as food.
  
  

Spawning

• Both king and sockeye salmon spawn in the fall. Kings spawn in large rivers with high water flow, while sockeye stick to rivers with a tributary to a lake.
  
  

Rearing

• The young king salmon, called "fry," rear in freshwater for up to a year. Sockeye fry rear in a lake for one to two years.