Chum Salmon (Freshwater Fish Pictorial Book, Series 1, revised release by Yujin)

This figure is the adult Chum Salmon, also known as Dog Salmon or Keta salmon, Oncorhynchus keta, number 05 from the first series. This trout is widespread throughout Pacific Asia and North America, ranging widely in the oceans and travelling far inland for breeding. The Chum salmon is a very deep bodied salmon species. Their sizing is also quite variable averaging 60cm; the TL given by Yujin Is 100cm (so it’s probably based on a British Columbia variety, where the record of 112cm was caught.

Chum salmon are predatory like most salmonids, hunting arthropods to grow large enough to move to the sea to grow to full maturity. There, they tend to remain high in the water column while they continue to grow and feed, and are in turn important food for other marine animals such as orcas. They are relatively common as far as salmon go (especially these days) but are less popular for human consumption than the other species–the name ‘dog salmon’ comes from the practice of using them as dog food. While overall ‘common’ there are some populations listed as ‘Threatened’, but in other ways, they may be more resistant to some problems than other salmonids, such as whirling disease.

This model is about 7.5 cm long, making the figure roughly 1:13. The figure is in an active swimming pose, with a face clearly meant to invoke a large male. The colouring reflects a fish that has already headed upstream for breeding, although it is not in full-on breeding colours, with large teeth in the jaw. This one is on the grey version of the river rock base. I am not fully aware of other specific Chum Salmon figures by other companies, however, the Chum Salmon is one of the Yujin figures that has a distinct colour variation—an almost black version, with deep red vertical markings, likely specific to a certain location and reflecting the peak of breeding season. I’ve only seen it available once on YAJ, and while I’m not big on variant figures, it looks pretty cool! (author note…stay tuned)

One other point about the Chum Salmon model—it is the first figure to come in two separate pieces (head & body). There are not many, and it’s not always clear why some figures are in two parts and others are not. At least this one is cut at the opercula, so the seam feels somewhat natural.

Starting on the 14th of January, 2024, I migrated my first Yujin Freshwater Fish Pictorial walkaround post from the Animal Toy Forum to this blog, with the intention of moving all species’/figures’ walkarounds here. The initial post contained a lengthy explanation of the series (both the original and updated) that I don’t think should be repeated each time! For those details, the post can be seen at the first post. Then we can just get to the fish. Most of the details and writing will come from the original post, although I may supplement/add where appropriate.

• Per forum member Jetoar : “Really awesome detailed figure  .”