Oncorhynchus

Oncorhynchus
Temporal range: Late Miocene – recent
Sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka
Female (above) and male in mating season
Note male with kype (hooked snout)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Salmoniformes
Family: Salmonidae
Subfamily: Salmoninae
Genus: Oncorhynchus
Suckley, 1861
Type species
Salmo gorbuscha[citation needed]
(Walbaum, 1792)
Species

§ Species

Oncorhynchus is a genus of ray-finned fish in the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae, native to coldwater tributaries of the North Pacific basin. The genus contains twelve extant species, namely six species of Pacific salmon and six species of Pacific trout, all of which are migratory (either anadromous or potamodromous) mid-level predatory fish that display natal homing and semelparity.

The name of the genus is derived from the Greek ὄγκος (ónkos, 'lump, bend') + ῥύγχος (rhúnkhos, 'snout'), in reference to the hooked secondary sexual characteristic — known as the kype — that the males develop on the lower jaw tip during mating season.