Kamchatka, Russia | Where the Salmon Rule, National Geographic Magazine: Sea of Okhotsk Wetlands

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At the top of this photograph made in Russia is the Sea of Okhotsk, and below it the Oblukovina River. They flows past wetlands created by heavy rain on the west side of Kamchatka. Wetlands are the primary sign of a healthy salmon ecosystem and clouds of mosquitoes form where insects are a main food source. Salmon create a mass migration engine that brings marine-derived nutrients into river ecosystems, and the carcasses fertilize the entire Pacific Rim.