Ynghylch

A large fish, the Atlantic salmon is found in the cleanest rivers, mostly in the north and west. It spends most of its life at sea, but returns to spawn in the same stretch of river or stream in which it hatched. Travelling upstream from November to February, Atlantic salmon can be spotted jumping over weirs and waterfalls to get to the gravelly headwaters where they breed. Once they have reached their breeding grounds, the females dig depressions, known as 'redds', in the gravel; the eggs and sperm are released simultaneously into the water. The juveniles will stay in freshwater for up to six years, after which they migrate back to the sea - morphological changes allowing them to survive in salt water. Atlantic salmon are predators, feeding on invertebrates and small fish.