The diagram illustrates how the salmon grows from eggs to mature individuals. It is viable that there are 3 steps in the process, starting with the hatch of the newborn salmons, and ending with the return of adult salmons to the upper river to lay their eggs.
The salmon’s life cycle starts when the mature salmons lay their eggs in the slow-moving river. The eggs are surrounded by reeds and small stones. After approximately 5-6 months, the baby salmons finally hatch from the eggs. The baby salmons are called “fries”, and their body length is about 3 to 8 centimeters.
The fries then make up their adventures to the lower river, where the flow becomes more and more speedy. Their adventures can last up to approximately 4 years. The fries, after 4 years, expand their body size and turn into smolts. The smolts are about 12 to 15 centimeters in length.
After 4 years of living in the lower river, the smolts continue to travel to the open sea, where they set their habitats the longest in their lifespan, at approximately 5 years. There, the smolts make a significant change in their body size, from 12 – 15 centimeters to about 70 to 76 centimeters. The grown smolts are called “adult salmon”. When the breeding season comes, the adult salmons will swim upstream to the upper river to lay their eggs. The eggs will then be hatched, and a new life cycle of salmon begins.