The salmon fish is named for its coloring. They range from pale pinkish-orange to a light pink color of their flesh. Salmon was first used to describe a color in English in 1776. The actual color of salmon flesh varies from almost white to deep pink, depending on their levels of the carotenoidastaxanthin due to how rich a diet of krill and shrimp the fish feeds on. Salmon raised on fish farms are given artificial coloring in their food to reproduce the standard color the salmon is thought to have.
Krill and shrimp are what are most often the diet of wild salmon. They are both of the crustacean family. Trout are in the same family as salmon, but they don’t feed on krill or shrimp. Their main difference is that trout are resident and salmon migrate. Salmon are known for their migration. They are born in fresh water and migrate to the ocean. They then migrate back upstream to fresh water to spawn.