Five Amazing Facts About Salmon!
Salmon love both saltwater and freshwater.
Salmon are considered “anadromous” which means they live in both fresh and salt water. They are born in freshwater where they spend a few months to a few years (depending on the species) before moving out to the ocean. When it’s time to spawn, they head back to freshwater. Very few other fish can survive in such wide ranges of salinity and would die if they moved between salt and fresh water the way that salmon do. That’s because when saltwater fish are exposed to freshwater, it can cause their cells to burst. And when freshwater fish are exposed to salt water, it can cause their cells to shrivel, due to a process known as osmoregulation. Luckily salmon have some pretty amazing physiological and behavioral adaptations that allow them to survive in both environments.
2. After living for many years at sea, salmon travel a long distance home to return to the river in which they were born to spawn.
There are many theories about how they can do this. Some state that salmon use the Earth’s magnetic field to guide them, while others say they use their strong sense of smell to guide them home. Habitat changes and losses can affect the salmon’s ability to return to their native spawning river, posing a threat to the survival of future salmon generations.
3. Salmon have a really strong sense of smell
Atlantic salmon can smell one drop of scent in an area the equivalent of ten Olympic size pools!
4. Salmon change colour!
Salmon can be three different colours over the course of their life. For example, check out the picture above: juvenile sockeye salmon are light coloured and spotted, and during their adult years in the ocean, they are silvery blue. When it’s time to spawn, the adult bodies turn a brilliant red and their heads turn green.
5. Six different species of salmon live in Canada
Seven if you count the Steelhead, which scientists have recently discovered is more closely related to salmon than it is to trout, as previously believed. The other species are: Atlantic salmon, Chinook salmon, Chum salmon, Coho salmon, Pink salmon, and Sockeye salmon.
