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PASSIVE Present since 1.14 or earlier

Salmon mob in Minecraft

The Salmon is the fish of rivers and cold waters, and the only one that comes in three sizes. It is harmless and easy to catch by hand, with a water bucket or with a fishing rod. Cooked Salmon is one of the best fish to eat, and Raw Salmon tames cats as well as cod does.

Health: 31.5 hearts
Behavior: Passive
Main drop: Raw Salmon
Found in: 6 biomes

Salmon stats

Health: 3 1.5 hearts
Behavior: Passive
Main drop: Raw Salmon
Spawns in: 6 biomes
Size: 0.7 × 0.4 blocks
XP when killed: 1 to 3
Detection range: 16 blocks

// Experience drops only when a player kills it.

Where to find Salmon

Biomes where it spawns naturally, with its share of the spawns in each group.

Spawning

Group size: 1 to 5

Salmon drops

Salmon dropsFrom the loot table · chance per kill

Raw SalmonCooked if it dies on fire×1

Bone Meal5% chance×1

Health compared

Health vs other passive mobshealth points

Snow Golem4

Cod3

Rabbit3

Salmon3

Tropical Fish3

Salmon and its family

Mobs built on the same base in the game code, compared on their game values.

Mob	Health	Attack	XP	Speed
Cod	3	—	1–3	—
Pufferfish	3	1	1–3	—
Salmon	3	—	1–3	—
Tropical Fish	3	—	1–3	—

Traits

Properties set in the game files.

AquaticImpaling deals extra damage to it.

Hunted by axolotlsAxolotls attack it.

Breathes underwaterDoes not drown.

Ignored by pufferfishPufferfish do not puff up near it.

Weak to ImpalingImpaling deals extra damage to it.

What you can do with Salmon

Items to use on it and what happens.

CatchWater BucketUse a Water Bucket on it to carry it alive in a bucket.

Gear and tools

Items it can wear, and items you use on it.

Catch it inBucket of Salmon

Command

Summon a Salmon/summon →

/summon minecraft:salmon ~ ~ ~

Where Salmon swim

Salmon live in rivers, frozen rivers, and cold or frozen oceans. That makes them the fish you are most likely to meet inland, swimming in small groups along a river near your base. In warm seas, look for other fish instead.

Small, medium and large Salmon

Every Salmon spawns as small, medium or large. The size only changes how it looks: each one drops a single Raw Salmon whatever its size, sometimes with a little bone meal. When you catch one in a Bucket of Salmon, the bucket keeps its size, so you can sort them in an aquarium.

How to catch Salmon

By hand: it takes three punches, or one hit with a sword. If it dies while on fire, it drops Cooked Salmon directly.
With a water bucket: use it on the fish to get a Bucket of Salmon. Fish released from a bucket never despawn.
With a fishing rod: Raw Salmon is the second most common fish you reel in, after Raw Cod.

Like every fish, a Salmon dies after a short while out of the water, and wild ones despawn when you leave the area.

What Raw Salmon is for

Food: Cooked Salmon is a little more filling than Cooked Cod.
Animals: it tames cats, wins the trust of ocelots, sends a Dolphin off toward treasure, and feeds a Nautilus.
Trading: Fisherman villagers buy Raw Salmon for emeralds and cook it for you.

Axolotls hunt Salmon, so keep them in separate tanks.

✓ Checked in Java Edition 26.3 · updated 1 November 2026