10/30/2024
This month North Cascades’ rivers and streams presents "Spawn of the Dead!"
After returning to rivers to spawn, Pacific salmon stop eating and quickly begin to rapidly age and die, a process known as spawning out. The fish begin to rot while still alive and with missing eyes and other chunks, become the living dead! Yep, they become zombie salmon! Good news for everyone though, instead of turning other fish and anglers into the undead as well, zombie salmon are an important part of the ecosystem and are a vital winter food source for scavengers like bald eagles.
Check out spawning salmon right now in rivers throughout the park complex.
NPS Photo