# Is there a fish that dies after giving birth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 3, 2001, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fish-that-dies-after-giving-birth/71111 "2001-07-03T18:19:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GodImStupid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@GodImStupid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GodImStupid)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fish-that-dies-after-giving-birth/71111/1 "2001-07-03T18:19:45Z")
I was just wondering if there was a fish that could only reproduce once, and then die after that. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fish-that-dies-after-giving-birth/71111/2 "2001-07-03T18:31:09Z")
Pacific Salmon for one. [Encyclopedia Britannica article on salmon](http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=66791) ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fish-that-dies-after-giving-birth/71111/3 "2001-07-03T19:10:14Z")
It’s not a fish, but the opalescent squid die after mating and laying eggs. So do most octopi (although the octopi die because they spend all their energies defending the eggs until they hatch). Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fish-that-dies-after-giving-birth/71111/4 "2001-07-03T22:47:29Z")
I’ve never heard of a fish that dies before giving birth, at least. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fish-that-dies-after-giving-birth/71111/5 "2001-07-04T01:06:27Z")
Just off the top of my head, there are also some species of killifish that are annuals; they complete their life-cycle in a year, lay some eggs, then die when their water dries up. I’m not sure if the spawning act causes death, or whether that is brought about by environmental conditions alone. ---
**Author:** ![Kamandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5daacb/32.png) [@Kamandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamandi)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fish-that-dies-after-giving-birth/71111/6 "2001-07-04T16:50:54Z")
There’s a small fish that lives off the east coast of Canada called a capelin. Kind of like a smelt. Millions of them spawn and die on the beaches every June. Incidentally, they taste great fried, smoked or dried, have historically been used locally as fertilizer and animal feed, can be used as bait to catch larger fish, and are a prime food source of humpback whales in the northwest Atlantic ocean. Like most other fish these days, their usefulness has proven their undoing. Their populations have plunged due to overfishing. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fish-that-dies-after-giving-birth/71111/7 "2001-07-04T16:57:03Z")
Chronos: > [@](#): > > I’ve never heard of a fish that dies before giving birth, at least. Many of them do, actually. I, on the other hand, have never heard of a fish that gives birth after dying… ::GD&R::