After the redd (nest) is ready the female signals that she is ready to lay her eggs by touching her anal fin to the gravel. There may be other cues as well because this is the time males appear and there is a final competition for dominance. The winning male joins the female salmon and side by side they release their gametes (eggs and sperm) above the redd.
Female salmon release orange eggs. She may lay two to ten thousand eggs. Each of these is about the size of a small pea. Salmon eggs are rich in yolk - the material used as the food for the developing fish.