Incubation Biology

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Incubating salmonid eggs not only develop over time but also according to temperature. Eggs incubated at 10 C° develop twice as fast as eggs incubated at 5 C°. To keep track of the development within an egg, scientists have a system that uses "Accumulated Thermal Units" (ATU).

Simply put, 1 ATU is one degree for one day. In water of 10 C°, we would accumulate 10 ATU per day, after 13 days we would have 130 ATUs, if the water was five C°, in 13 days we would have 65 ATUs.

Below is the table representing the different ATU and life stages for the various species.

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Eyed Eggs
Hatch Into Alevin
Emerge from incubator
Pink Salmon
350-400
550-650
900-950
Chum Salmon
300-350
475-525
900-1000
Coho
220
400-500
700-800
Chinook
280
480-540
900-1000
Sockeye
230
500-550
900-1000
Steelhead
190
330
490-530
Cuthroat
185-200
310-330
575

 

Calculate your egg incubation time below

 

Average Daily Temperature in C° (use whole degrees)

 

Select fish type

 

Date Of Fertilization