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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Out & about: Grotesque salmon raises eyebrows in Idaho

A spring chinook with sores and tumors on its mouth was caught in Idaho’s Little Salmon River. (COURTESY PHOTO / COURTESY PHOTO)

OUTCONCERNED – A chinook salmon with a mouth deformed by sores and tumors caught June 9 in the Little Salmon River by Idaho angler Clinton Kingston is getting plenty of attention on social media.

The grotesque springer has generated discussion ranging to the possibility of exposure to radiation from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster. Indeed, Oregon Fish and Wildlife Researchers have been monitoring for radiated fish, but no conclusions have been reached.

Idaho Fish and Game scientists are interested in the Little Salmon River specimen that swam hundreds of miles inland, but they’re not necessarily alarmed.

Diseases and abnormalities normally occur occasionally in a population, as research indicates. If they occur several times in a run, it’s a different story.

Says one IFG pathologist, who had yet to get a sample of the fish:

“During the late 1990s these tumors were prevalent in our salmon in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. I know I saw these at South Fork Trap and Sawtooth. I sent the tissues to the Tumor Registry and the wizards from there said it was either Squamous Cell Carcinoma or Ameloblastoma (this makes sense).

“If a bunch of fish come back with this tumor, I guess there would be reasons for concern.”

Samples of the fish’s tissue would be sent to Washington State University for lab analysis, he said.

According to Joe Dupont, Idaho Fish and Game’s regional fisheries manager in Lewiston, the Rapid River River Hatchery manager on the Little Salmon River “said they have not seen any like that show up at the hatchery rack this year, and over the last 20 years, they have just seen a few.”

Mount Spokane beargrass peaks

OUTDO, – “The beargrass bloom is amazing right now,” Mount Spokane State Park Manager Steve Christensen said this week. “This is the weekend to come up and enjoy them. They’re as good as I’ve ever seen them.”

There’s more than one reason to head up soon to enjoy the wildflowers and wildlife from the roads and trails of the state park.

Starting July 11 and running into October, the roads in the state park will be close to public vehicle traffic as the road is resurfaced.

After the road into the park is closed, the trails will still be open to hikers and bicyclists.