Mature adult chum is usually about 25 inches in length and 10 pounds in weight. The snout is bluntly pointed but greatly extended, and compressed; the lower jaw is enlarged and turned up at the tip making it impossible to close this sharp-toothed mouth. Breeding male chums also have a slight hump before the dorsal fin. Generally steel blue back, upper sides with fine black speckles and silver-white on the belly characterize the chum.

Chum salmon has peculiar behavior. In spring, the infant salmons, born in Heilongjiang and Wusuli rivers, journey to the sea. After living for 3-5 years in the sea, they migrate back to their birthplace to spawn, and soon after that they die.

In autumn (usually September to October), fledged chum salmons migrate in groups to Heilongjiang River to spawn, where there is the original reproduction place for them. Therefore, the best time of fishing may fall on late September till late October every year. The chum salmons captured weigh nearly 3.5-4 kg in average.

The fish is delicious. It is lack of fishbone, but abundant in alimentation, especially in protein. Its eggs contains plenty of phosphate, calcium and vitamin A and D, etc., which are a precious and nutritious food called Red Fish Eggs after being processed. Chum salmon and its roe both sell well in the markets of China and abroad.