ATLANTIC SALMON PRESENTATION

BY Kaitlyn Jardine, Kathryn Jardine, Kathleen

MacMillan and Randi Vanderbeck.

What do you know about Atlantic Salmon?

Gills

4 sets to take in oxygen from water flowing over the gills

They have special cells that help them migrate from salt to fresh water.

Mouth

• Helps salmon move water over gills. • Catches Prey • Sharp teeth • Taste sensing ability • Can Gulp air and adjust the swim bladder’s

balancing mechanism.

Swim bladder

• Helps the salmon float (buoyancy)

sight• They can see very far in clear waters.• They have color vision• They can detect “polarization” of light…. • This helps them navigate.

FINS

• There fins help them swim. They can swim left, right, up or down

• The dorsal and anal fins stabilize the fish. • The pectoral and pelvic fins are on the sides of the body

and are used for turning, backing up, stopping and for balance.

• The tail fin is like the motor. It pushes the salmon through the water. One of its purposes is to steer the fish.

• The adipose fin is soft. This fin used to be clipped if the fish was from a “hatchery”.

• Salmon Are able to quickly escape predators because of their “sleek” body design. This also helps them be a predator themselves. -20mph-Can climb waterfalls 4 feet tall.

Lateral Line

This line is visible Where the color of the fish changes from dark to light. This helps the salmon sense movement, water currents and direction of downstream is used by the salmon as a versatile sensory system. It also helps it sense up stream and “upwelling currents” so that they can jump.

Operculum

Protective plate covering gills….. Like a Helmet !

Life Cycle

Eggs

• Eggs become “eyed eggs” once they are fertilized

Alevin

• This is the first stage of a salmons life once they hatch from their eggs. They still caryry there yolk sack for food

Fry

• During this stage the fish lose their yolk sacks and begin to feed from their surroundings. They are 2-3 cm long.

Parr

• This stage comes after their first year in fresh water. Usually they spend 3 years in fresh water or streams before leaving for sea.

Smolt

• Now the fish are 15 cm long. They turn a silvery color.

• Studies of these fish tell us that smolts actually travel far distances as far away as Greenland.

Adult

• A lot of growth takes place in this stage• Their size depends on how long they’ve spent

at sea. If they spent one or more years they weigh about 2.5 kg

• If they spent 2 winters at sea they can be as big as 12 kg.

• Males have a hook females do not

Fish Cam?

How about an Activity?