[sok-ahy] 
| an important food fish, Oncorhynchus nerka, inhabiting the North Pacific. |
| sock·eye salmon (sŏk'ī') n. A salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) of northern Pacific coastal waters that is a commercially valuable food fish. Also called blueback salmon, red salmon. [By folk etymology from Halkomelem (Salishan language of southwest British Columbia) sth  qə'y.] |