Salmon (color)

The flesh of the salmon fish is salmon-colored.

Salmon is a warm color ranging from light orange to pink, named after the color of salmon flesh.

The first recorded use of salmon as a color name in English was in 1776.[1]

The actual color of salmon flesh varies from almost white to light orange, depending on their levels of the carotenoid astaxanthin, which in turn is the result of the richness of the fish's diet of krill and shrimp; salmon raised on fish farms are given non-synthetic or artificial coloring in their food.[2][3]

The flesh of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is lighter and oranger than that of the various Pacific salmon species (from the genus Oncorhynchus).[4]

  1. ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 203; Color Sample of Salmon: Page 43 Plate 10 Color Sample A7
  2. ^ "Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Animal Nutrition on the use of canthaxanthin in feedingstuffs for salmon and trout, laying hens, and other poultry" (PDF). European Commission - Health & Consumer Protection Directorate. pp. 6–7. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  3. ^ "The Truth About Farmed Salmon at Whole Foods Market". Whole Foods Website. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  4. ^ "Atlantic and Pacific salmon: What's the difference?". Cook Inlet. 21 July 2022. Retrieved 2023-09-28.