Atlantic salmon

Salmo salar · The Atlantic salmon is a large ray-finned fish that lives in the northern Atlantic Ocean and in the rivers that flow into it.

Also called Black Salmon.

Atlantic salmon
Photo: Bjørn Nesheim, CC BY-SA 3.0
Atlantic salmon
Photo: Hans-Petter Fjeld, CC BY-SA 2.5
Atlantic salmon
Photo: Ron Shawley, CC BY 3.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassActinopterygii
OrderSalmoniformes
FamilySalmonidae
GenusSalmo
SpeciesSalmo salar

Where it lives

Rivers from Portugal to Russia and New England to Quebec, feeding at sea off Greenland.

Fun facts

  • Unlike Pacific salmon, an Atlantic salmon can survive spawning and return to sea to do it all again, though only 5–10% do.
  • The heaviest Atlantic salmon on record, netted in Scotland in 1960, weighed a whopping 49.44 kg (109.0 lb).
  • At sea, Atlantic salmon can sense changes in the Earth's magnetic field thanks to iron in their lateral line.
  • Only about 5% of Atlantic salmon swim up the wrong river when heading home to spawn.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).