Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar By: Tyler Scientific Classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Osteichthyes Order: Salmoniformes Family: Salmonidae Genus: Salmo Species: salar

Natural History

Ecology is the study of the relationship between organisms and their environment. Diversity is the quality or state of being divers; different, varied. Both of these things describe the Atlantic salmon.

In the early 1800's the Atlantic salmon population was reduced by a great deal. The Atlantic salmon was on the endangered species list, but it has been helped. Now it is threatened. This is partly because of people constructing dams for power. Because of this the salmon had no way to get upstream to spawn. Another reason why they began disappearing was that people were overfishing them.

They are cold-blooded animals which means they don't have a constant body temperature. The temperature of a cold-blooded animal changes when the temperature of its environment changes.

The Atlantic salmon are called “The King of the Game Fish,” because they put up a good fight when you try to catch them. Atlantic salmon were found between the St. Croix River in Maine and the Housatonic River in Connecticut. The Atlantic Salmon can go from the fresh water to the salt water; that is called being anadromous. It can change its physiological self. The ways that it changes are that its skin starts to grow scales.

Habitat

Habitat is the place where a population lives. Salmon need to be in a cold environment. The climate needs to be in a range from 1 to 3 degrees Celsius. If any humans damage the water temperature, they might all die. If it goes out of that temperature range too hot or to cold they would die.

When the eggs hatch into sac fry they won't eat anything for six months. They will not eat until they get to the salt water oceans.

They share the environment with other animals that can stand the cold waters. The Atlantic salmon live in the northeastern part of the United States, the eastern part of Canada, and the northern part of Europe.

Present Status

The Atlantic Salmon is on the Threatened Species List in Maine.

Physical Description

The Atlantic salmon are vertebrates. A vertebrate is any animal that has a backbone. Although there are a large numbers of vertebrate species, vertebrates make up approximately 3 percent of the animal kingdom. Since they are vertebrates they are in the Phylum Chordata.

The egg and the eyed eggs are the first and second stages of the growth process. They are about the size of a pea. The parr is the fifth stage. These have black spots on both sides, with 8 to 11 vertical bands or lines. The parr then becomes a smolt which is the sixth stage, and it turns silver except for at the ends of its fins. Smolt can range from 2 to 3 inches or 5 to 9 centimeters. The adult salmon is the last stage. They range in length from 30 inches long, 2 feet.

Adult Atlantic salmon usually weigh about 10 pounds or 4.5 kilograms. The adult salmon have tan on the bottom, and the 2 front fins and the back fins are black. Their lower jaw curls up little bit at the end, and it curls a lot when they are spawning. On the top of their body they are light gray at the tail, gray in the middle, and dark gray over its head.


Diet and Feeding Habits

The Atlantic salmon are carnivores which means that they only eat meat. After the eyed eggs hatch into sac frys, they eat off of this yolk like sac that is attached to them when they hatch and that lasts them for six months until they get to the salt water.

Salmon are predators because they are an organism that kills other animals for food. They are also prey because they are an organism that is killed for other animals' food. They eat insects, copepods, amphipods, little green crabs, which are crustaceans. They also eat other crustaceans.

The Atlantic salmon is a part of the food chain because it eats a smaller animal and it gets eaten itself by bigger animals, like bears. The Atlantic salmon is also a consumer which means it is an organism that eats another organism for food. They belong to an ecosystem. Ecosystem means a group of organisms in an area that interacts with one another, together with their non-living environment.

Threats- Prospects for the Future- What’s Being Done to Help?

They are getting killed by overfishing, low waters, and pollution. The pollution reason is partly because farmers use pesticides on their crops. So when it rains, the pesticides flow into the water and kill the fish and other organisms.

They are being overfished because, as you know, they are called King of the Game Fish because they put up such a good fight. That's why people would overfish them.

When we're having a drought, there is less rain. Water in rivers evaporates, and fish have less water to swim. They used to and still do today have big companies that have poisonous chemicals that they just let flow right into the river, so the fish get sick and die.

They have people who are making salmon farms for the Atlantic salmon. They raise the eggs and dump them out into this fenced out area, so that they can hatch and grow to a certain age. They will then get released, and will come back when it is time to spawn. The adult female will then lay her eggs and will be a part of the life cycle.

Personal Essay

What is the value of wilderness to modern society? It is a value to me because I can get away and have fun in a place where there is no concrete, no big buldings, just all trees, little cabins, natural sounds like birds, and trees blowing, not highways, cars, and planes. Without wilderness there would not be any place to play games such as canoeing, hiking, and other fun things like that.

Bibliography/ Links

1. Nature Serve Explorer an online encyclopedia of life. December 18, 2002. http:www.natureserve.org/explorer/. (February 27,2003.)

2. Northeast Regional Public Affairs Office. “Atlantic Salmon- Species of Special Emphasis.” Fish and Wildlife Service. September 1985: page 1

3. Greenfield, David. “Kinds of Salmon,” World Book. 2001.

4. Baum, Ed. Maine Atlantic Salmon- A National Treasure. Hermon, Maine: Atlantic Salmon United. 1997.