Photos: Christmas at the hatchery

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Fish culturist Megan McClaren scoops up king salmon fry "morts" while working on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 2015, at the ADF&G's William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery.

Megan McClaren was looking forward to her Christmas dinner on Friday — tenderloin and backstrap from a moose she shot herself in the Matanuska Valley.

But before she could do the cooking, there was some cleaning to do just down the street from her house on the banks of Anchorage's Ship Creek, at McClaren's office: the William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery.

Like many other people on Friday, McClaren, 27, still had to show up for work — though as a fish culturist, hers was a uniquely Alaskan job. While some were still opening presents and eating breakfast on Christmas morning, McClaren and her boyfriend spent about 90 minutes making the rounds at the 3-acre, state-run hatchery: scrubbing fungus off metal screens, scooping up tiny king salmon corpses and generally ensuring the well-being of the millions of fish inside.

Read more: At the Anchorage fish hatchery, Christmas is just another day at the office