Interesting facts about Salmon
Latin Name: Salmo salar
British record: 64lb
Anadromous fish life cycle in salt and fresh water. Adults spawn in freshwater and the offspring migrate to the sea after 2-3 years as smolts. In the marine environment they feed heavily on herring, sand eels, capelin, crustaceans and sprats moving as far as Iceland and the Faroes in the north Atlantic. As adults they return to the rivers to spawn after several sea winters except for the grilse which return after one sea winter.
They are guided back to their rivers of origin by a combination of senses from actual star configurations, magnetic fields and olefactory sense of smell. Each river has distinct characteristics picked up by the olfactoray organ which increases in size as the maturation process goes on. There is always a number of fish which stray into different rivers but this adds vigour to the gene pool.
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