Author: Linnaeus, 1758

Salmo salar Linnaeus, 1758

Diagnosis: elongate, but becoming deeper with age, caudal peduncle slender, the fish easily grasped by it. Tip of upper jaw reaching to hind margin of eye, but not beyond; jaws in adult males become greatly hooked just before and during breeding. A staggered line of teeth on shaft of vomer, but none on head of vomer. Gillrakers 17-24. Dorsal finrays iiiiv 9-12, and an adipose fin behind it; pelvic finrays i-ii (7) 8-9, base below latter half of dorsal fin; anal finrays iii-iv 7-9 (10); caudal fin fairly deeply forked. Scales small, 114-130 in lateral line, 11-15 obliquely from adipose fin to lateral line. Vertebrae 59-60. Colour: back brown, or green/blue, flanks silvery, belly white; back and flanks above lateral line (rarely below it) with X-shaped black spots; in freshwater, flanks greenish or brown, mottled with red or orange and with large dark spots with lighter edges; juveniles (parr) with 8-11 dark marks on flanks with an orange mark between, but become entirely silvery at migratory stage (smolts). Size: to 150 cm and 39 kg or more, usually 40-130 cm.

Habitat: adults in sea not forming shoals, making considerable migrations, often transatlantic (but life in sea not well known); juveniles in streams, rivers or estuaries. Food: at sea, crustaceans and small fishes (herring, sprat, sand-eels, capelin, small gadids); in freshwater, adults do not feed, but juveniles take mainly aquatic larvae of insects. Reproduction: spawning runs April to August, the adults ascending far upstream, but not actually spawning until October-December at 5-6 years of age. Females dig and shape a 'nest' or redd in the gravel bottom, eggs and sperm are ejected simultaneously and the redd covered; partly grown males (parr) often contribute sperm also; spent adults (kelts) return to the sea, some to spawn the following year, a very few to spawn a third time, and hardly any a fourth time. Juveniles remain in streams and rivers as parr for 1-3 (rarely 4) years before descending as smolts.

Distribution: Atlantic coasts of Europe, from Barents Sea, northern Norway and Baltic southward to northern Portugal, also around Iceland and southern Greenland; not in Mediterranean. Elsewhere, coasts of Canada and North America.

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Roule, 1920: 92-139, fig. 14-54 | Ivanov, 1937: 599, fig. 552-553, 563, 565 | Nikiforov, 1959: 68, fig. 1-5 | Evropeizeva, 1960: 84, fig. 2-5 | Vernidub, 1967: 75, fig. 1a, 2a, 5, 8.
Otoliths (sagitta). Scott, 1906: 76, pl. IIB (fig. 31), pl. V (fig. 9) | Shepherd, 1910: 295, pl. 1 (fig. 14); 1914: 109 | Frost, 1925: 157, pl. XII (fig. 2) | Sanz Echeverría, 1928: 162, pl. IV (fig. 8) | Chaine, 1942: 127, pl. V | Bauzá-Rullán, 1962: 5, pl. 1 (fig. 1-2).

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Osteichthyes
Order Clupeiformes
Suborder Salmonoidei
Family Salmonidae
Genus Salmo
Species Salmo salar

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Salmo salar Linnaeus, 1758

Scientific synonyms and common names

Salmo salar Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms:

Salmo Salar Linnaeus, 1758, loc. cit.: 308 ('Habitat in Oceano Europae, parit in fluviis') (Int. Comm. Zool. Nomencl. Direct., 57 and Off. List Spec. Names Zool., no. 1086).
Salmo nobilis Olafsen, 1772, Reise igiennen Island, 1: 83, here cited from Olafsen, 1774, Reise durch Island, 1: 35 (Heller-, Kortolfstade- and Lur-Aa, Syder-Island).
Salmo nobilis: Pallas, 1811: 342 (part.).
Salrno hamatus Cuvier, 1829, Règne animal, ed. II, 2: 303 ('l'embouchure de nos rivières').
Salmo ocla Nilsson, 1832, Prodr. Ichth. Scand.: 4 ('E mari Balthico adscendit in fluvium Dalelfen').
Salmo salar: Moreau, 1881, 3: 525, fig. 206 Day, 1882, 2: 66, pl. CX (fig. 1-2), pl. CXI (fig. 1) Berg, 1932,1:133, fig. 120-121 Alm, in Andersson et al., 1942, 2: 594, pl. 104-107 (col.) Lozano Rey, 1947: 101, fig. 18 Poll, 1947: 147, fig. 95-100 Berg, 1948, 1: 205, fig. 127-137 Andriashev, 1954: 93. fig. 44 Wheeler, 1969: 150, fig. 57-59, pl. 3 (col.).
Salmo brevipes Smitt, 1883, Öfvers. Vet.-Akad. Förh., 39 (8): 32 (Archangelsk).
Salmo salar var. nobilis: Smitt, 1895, 2: 849, fig. 210, 212A, pl. XXXVII (fig. 3-4), pl. XXXVIII (fig. 1).
Salmo salar brevipes: Berg, 1932: 141, fig. 123-126a.


Common names:

atlantic salmon [En]
lachs [De]
lachs [De]
laks [Da]
laks [ No]
lax [Sv]
lohi [Su]
losos [Ru]
losos' [Pl]
losos' [Ru]
salmão [Pr]
salmon [En]
salmon [Es]
salmón [Es]
saumon atlantique [Fr]
saumon [Fr]
sjomga [Ru]
zalm [Ne]

Andersson, K. A., ed. 1942. Fiskar och fiske i Norden. 1, Fiskar och fiske i havet. Stockholm, xvi+540 pp., 83 col. pl., 230 fig. 2, Fiskar och Fiske i Sjör och Floder: pp. xvii-xxiv+541-1016, fig. 231-426, col. pl. 84-128. (New edition in 1954, 2: pp. 425-769, 190 fig., 42 col. pl.)

Andriashev, A. P. 1954. Ryby severnykh morei SSSR. Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR. Moskwa-Leningrad. (English trans. 1964, Jerusalem, IPST, 617 pp., 300 fig.)

Bauzá-Rullán, J. 1962. Contribución al estudio de los otolitos de peces. Boln R. Soc. esp. Hist. nat. (Biol.), 60: 5-26, pl. I-VI.

Berg, L. S. 1932-1933. Les poissons des eaux douces de l'U.R.S.S. et des pays limitrophes, ed. 3, Leningrad, 1, 1932: 554 pp., fig. 1-474; 2, 1933: pp. 545-903, fig. 475-762, map (in Russian).

Berg, L. S. 1948-1949. Ryby presnykh vod SSSR i sopredel'nykh stran, 4 ed., 1, Opred. pofaune SSSR, no. 27, 1948: pp. 1-466, fig. 1-281; 2, ibid., no. 29, 1949: pp. 467-925, fig. 282-674; 3, ibid., no. 30, 1949: pp. 927-1382, fig. 675-946, map (in Russian).

Chaine, J. 1942. Recherches sur les otolithes des Poissons. . . Act. Soc. linn. Bordeaux, 92: 3-135, 6 pl.

Cuvier, G. 1829. Le règne animal distribué d'après son organisation, pour servir de base à l'histoire naturelle des animaux et d'introduction à l'anatomie comparée. Nouvelle édition, Paris, 2: pp. 122-406 [March 1829].

Day, F. 1880-1884. The Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland. London-Edinburgh, 2 vol., cxii+336 pp., 5 +7 fig., 92 pl. and 388 pp., 87 pl. 1880: 1(1): pp. 1-64, pl. I-XXVII; 1881: 1(2) (3): pp. 65-240, pl. XXVIII-LXVIII; 1882: 1(4): pp. 241-336, pl. LXIX-XCII; 2 (5): pp. 1-96, pl. XCIII-CXVI; 1883: 2 (6): pp. 97-176, pl. CXVII-CXXXII; 2 (7): pp. 177-272, pl. CXXXIII-CXLVIII; 1884: 2 (8): pp. 273-368, pl. CXLIX-CLXXIX.

Evropeitseva, N. V. 1960. On some stages of individual development of young Atlantic salmon. Vest. leningr. gos. Univ., 15, Biol. 3: 82-95, 9 fig. (in Russian, with English Summary).

Frost, G. A. 1925. A comparative study of the otoliths of the Neopterygian Fishes, I, Order Isospondyli. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., (9)15 :151-163, pl. XI-XIII.

Ivanov, P. P. 1937. Obstschaya i sravnitel'naya embryologia [General and comparative embryology]. Gosisdat, Moscow-Leningrad: 809 p., 670 fig. (in Russian).

Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae, ed. X, vol. 1, 824 pp. Nantes & Pisces: pp. 230-338. (Reprint, 1956, London.)

Lozano y Rey, L. 1947. Peces Ganoideos y Fisostomos, Mems R. Acad. Cienc. exact. fis. nat. Madr., ser.: Cienc. Nat., 11: xv + 839 p., 190 fig., 20 pl.

Moreau, E. 1881-1891. Histoire naturelle des poissons de la France, Paris, I, 1881: pp. I-VII+1-480, fig. 1-82; II, 1881: pp. 1-572, fig. 83-145; III, 1881: pp. 1-697, fig. 146-220; Suppl., 1891: pp. 1-144, fig. 221-227.

Nikiforov, N. D. 1959. Razvitie, rost i vizhivaemost' embrionov i molodi siemgi v estesvennikh usloviakh. Izv. vses. nauchno. issled. Inst. ozern. rechn. ryb. Khoz., 48: 65-79, 5 fig. (in Russian).

Nilsson, S. 1832. Prodromus Ichthyologiae Scandinavicae, Lund: iv+124 p.

Olafsen, E. 1772. Vice-Lavmand Eggert Olafsens og Land-Physici Biarne Povelsens Reise igiennem Island, 1:1-618, 51 pl.

Pallas, P. S. 1811 [probably 1814]. Zoographia rosso-asiatica, sistens omnium animalium in extenso Imperio Rossico et adjacentibus maribus observatorum recensionem, domicilia, mores et descriptiones anatomen atque icones plurimorum, 3 vol. Petropoli, 3, 428 pp. (pl. [1], XIII, XIV, XV, XXI, XX (sic)) (89 pl. are mentioned in the text but are unpublished. Perhaps published in Icones ad Zoographiam Rosso-Asiaticam, 1834-427.). (2nd ed., 1831, 3 vol. and Atlas, Petropoli.)

Poll, M. 1947. Poissons marins in Faune de Belgique. Bruxelles, 452 pp., 267 fig., 2 pl., 2 maps n. num. (inset).

Roule, L. 1920. Étude sur le saumon des eaux douces de la France, considéré au point de vue de son état naturel et du repeuplement de nos rivières. Paris, Minist. AFic., Peche Piscic.: 178 p., 54 fig.

Sanz Echeverria, J. 1928. Investigaciones sobre otolitos de peces de España. Boln R. Soc. esp. Hist. nat., 28 (1): 159-166, pl. IV-V.

Scott, T. 1906. Observations on the otoliths of some teleostean fishes. 24. Rep. Fishery Bd Scotl., 1905 [1906], 3: 48-82, 5 pl.

Shepherd, C. E. 1910b. Comparisons of otoliths found in fishes. Zoologist, Lond., (4)14: pp. 292-298, 2 pl.

Shepherd, C. E. 1914. On the location of the sacculus and its contained otoliths in fishes. Zoologist, Lond., (4)18: 103-109, 131-146, 3 fig.

Smitt, F. A. 1883. Schematisk framställning af de i Riksmuseum befintliga laxartade fiskarnes slägtskapsförhållanden. Öfvers. K. svenska VetenskAkad. Handl., 1882 [1883], 39 (8): pp. 31-40.

Smitt, F. A. 1893-1895. (ed.) A history of Scandinavian fishes, Stockholm and Paris, Atlas, I, 1893, pl. i-xxvii.

Vernidub, M. F. 1967. [Adaptive specialities of morphogenesis on early ontogeny in suborder Salmonoidei]. Vest. Ieningr. gos. Univ., 21, Biol. 4: 70-81, 8 fig. (in Russian, with English summary).

Wheeler, A. 1969. The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe. Macmillan, London, Melbourne and Toronto: pp. i-xvii+1-163, 5+177 fig., 392 fig. (princ. sp.), 92 n. num. fig., 16 pl., maps. Battle, H. J. 1944. The embryology of the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar Linnaeus), Can. J. Res. (Sect. D, Zool. Sci.), 22 (5) :105-125, 39 fig.

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