Name: Atlantic salmon, black salmon, grilse
Scientific Name: Salmo salar (Linnaeus, 1758)
Family: Salmonidae
Group: Bony fish
Class: Fish
Size: 101-200 cm.
Atlantic salmon adults live in the sea, but during the breeding season, make large migrations up river to spawn next to the river's source. Afterwards, weakened and thin, they return to the sea. The juveniles remain protected in the river for 2 to 3 years, after which they join the adults. Later, they return to the precise location where they were born to spawn. It is thought that they recognise the way back by a sequence of smells that they record in their memory while descending the river for the first time! The fishing of Atlantic salmon in rivers is prohibited, in order to allow reproduction to take place and guarantee the future of the species.
Photo by:
www.stopglobalwarming.org
North Atlantic
