Our Logo.  Salmon Care's stylized logo is a representation of the life cycle of the Atlantic salmon. As you mouseover the thumbnail images below the logo, the corresponding icon on the logo will hilight.

Each thumbnail shows the salmon at one of six distinct life stages.  - from egg, through the various river stages of the salmon's life, to the mature salmon returning to spawn and start the cycle once more.

Click on the thumbnails to see a more detailed description of each life stage below.

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Egg.  In late fall, the salmon bury approx 800 pea-sized pink eggs per pound of body weight in the gravel of swift, oxygenated streams. During the long winter months the eggs develop deep within the gravel under the ice until they reach the "eyed" stage (shown here). At this point they are close to hatching. In the wild, perhaps only 20% of fertilized eggs will reach this stage. Flood washout, incomplete fertilization, insufficient oxygen and predation all take their toll. conversely, Hatcheries generally achieve an 85-90% success  rate.

Alevin.  The tiny, awkward-looking creatures which emerge finally from the eggs which were buried some 5 months before are called Alevins. The 2cm long alevin feeds from the yolk within the sac attached to its belly. When the yolk sac is almost gone the tiny salmon wriggles its way up from the gravel and emerges into the surface rocks of the stream bed. It will now feed on microscopic life in the water and many of its number will be fed upon in turn; by other fish and even large insects.

Fry.  Until this emerged post-alevin is about 5cm long it is called a Fry or 0+ parr; 0 meaning less than a year since it began life as an egg. The tiny fry gradually seek food closer to the surface and are called swim-up fry as they grow and become more daring. However, the majority of their time is spent among the substrate of the stream bed which offers them protection.

Parr.  The fry soon acquire the markings on either flank that identify them as parr. A parr has a dark back with bars, or parr marks, along its side each with a single red dot between. These bars and spots provide camouflage among gravel and weed. Parr remain in the river for 2-6 years depending on the latitude of the river (hence water temperature) and availability of insects, small fish etc. They remain in the faster, riffle sections of the stream where the turbulence affords them protection from airborne predators and where oxygen and food washdown are abundant. During this stage of its life the parr's chances of survival are less than 1 in a 1,000.

Smolt.  At a length of 15-25cm and an average of 3 years in the stream, the parr undergoes a Springtime transformation into a smolt. Parr marks are replace by a silver coat for camouflage in its imminent sea journey.Their internal organs adapt for saltwater life as they wash back and forth in the brackish estuary waters and "imprint' with the smell or taste of their home river. Then suddenly, they are gone. Their mysterious (and little understood) sea migration has begun.

Salmon (and Grilse).  As the smolt feed in the sea and mature, many stocks (both from North America and Europe) rendezvous off southwestern Greenland to put on weight at an amazing rate. Some of these post-smolts reach sexual maturity after only one winter at sea and return to their native rivers as grilse. These smaller salmon usually weigh between 3 and 6 pounds. Some of the stock will stay at sea for two, three and, in rare cases, 4 years and return as truly huge specimens. These large salmon, which are generally female, will weigh anywhere between 9 and 47 pounds. The largest rod-caught specimen was a 79 pounder landed in Norway while the largest ever recorded was a 103 pound fish found in a Scottish poacher's net.