The Great Migrators

When you google the word ‘salmon’ you won’t find a bunch of data on the species itself, but hundreds of delicious recipes as it is one of the most desired fish for eating around the world. It is the common name for any species of fish in the Salmonidae family, most of which occur naturally in North American waters, 5 in the Pacific Northwest and one in the Atlantic. Two occur only in Asia, the masu and amago, but they have been introduced into non-native environments in other parts of the world such as the Great Lakes of North America and the Patagonia of South America.

They are a very unique species for two reason: they are great migrators and they spend a large portion of their lives living in both fresh and saltwater. Some of them migrate up to 1,000 miles from their spawning grounds up freshwater rivers to their feeding grounds in the ocean. Because salmon are a in high demand as a food source many regional populations have become endangered due to overfishing, causing them to become a heavily farmed fish. If you have ever wanted to go diving with salmon, click on the map below to discover dive sites where they can be seen.