Salmon Migration

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how salmon are an amazingly varied and behaviorally complicated type of fish with different species all over the globe and how, the one thing which sets salmon apart from other fish, is the salmon's remarkable ability to navigate from the stream or river where it was born, through thousands of miles of sea right back to its specific birth place. In order to understand understand how the salmon navigates itself through thousands of miles so accurately, it looks at the salmon's life cycle and how the transition from fresh water to salt water produces many problems and dangers that through physiological and behavioral changes the salmon overcomes.

From the Paper:

"The most noticeable change is the change in color and size; the vertical stripes and dots give way to a silvery like color to camouflage it at sea and the body begins to become larger, thinner and streamlined. Eventually its tail also becomes more powerful, however this is only noticeable when the salmon returns from the sea as it is in the sea when the tail develops fully. This development allows the salmon to overcome strong currents at sea as well as small physical obstacles on the way back upstream. Other essential changes are made also; this is the stage in the salmon's development when it learns the "smells" of its birth stream to enable it to "home" back to it after years at sea. This is known as olfactory imprinting and is similar to filial imprinting in birds as it occurs at a developmentally crucial stage."

More papers on Salmon Migration:

• Essay # 137683 : "The Ecological Impact of Salmon Farming: Too Much Damage for Too Little in Return?"
• Analytical Essay # 144276 : "BC Salmon Fishery Crisis: An Analysis"
• Analytical Essay # 141423 : "Reserved Rights, Salmon, and the Nez Perce"

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