What does cohoe mean?
The cohoe is a salmon of the North Pacific Ocean and its coastal rivers, better known today under the shorter spelling "coho" or by the name "silver salmon." Scientifically classified as Oncorhynchus kisutch, it is one of the five principal species of Pacific salmon and is highly valued both commercially and by sport anglers. Cohoes hatch in freshwater streams, migrate to the ocean to feed and grow, and after one to three years return to their natal rivers to spawn, dying shortly afterward like other Pacific salmon. In the ocean they are steel-blue above with bright silver sides, but as they approach spawning their bodies turn reddish and males develop hooked jaws. The word is chiefly North American, appearing most often in fishing, wildlife, and culinary contexts along the Pacific coast of Canada and Alaska.
nounA cohoe is a salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) of the North Pacific and its tributary rivers, valued as a game and food fish; also known as the coho or silver salmon.
- The coho or silver salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), a Pacific salmon species important commercially and for sport fishing.
"Anglers crowded the riverbank in autumn, hoping to hook a bright silvery cohoe on its spawning run."
"Commercial fishermen landed record numbers of cohoe off the Alaska coast this season."
"By October, the mature cohoe had turned brick-red as it fought upstream to spawn."
The standard plural simply adds -s; in commercial contexts the unmarked collective "cohoe" or "coho" is sometimes heard, but "cohoes" is preferred in careful writing.
"Thousands of cohoes surged through the fish ladder during the peak of the run."
The cohoe spends up to eighteen months fattening in the ocean before making one epic journey back to the very stream where it hatched — and it never leaves alive.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cohoe
"Cohoe" derives from an Indigenous language of the Pacific Northwest coast of North America; the term was adopted into English by nineteenth-century settlers and fishermen in the region, alongside the now-standard variant "coho." The word belongs to the family of common names — such as sockeye and chum — borrowed from Native peoples of the Columbia River basin and neighboring areas for local salmon species. Because the borrowing predates detailed linguistic documentation, the precise source language and original meaning are uncertain.
How cohoe is actually used
The spelling "cohoe" is now largely historical or regional; "coho" is by far the more common modern form in both everyday and commercial usage. The word is used mainly in North America, especially along the Pacific coast and in Alaska.
Easily confused with cohoe
Sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka) is a different Pacific salmon species prized for red flesh, whereas the cohoe (also called coho or silver salmon) has orange-pink flesh and turns dark red with a greenish head at spawning.