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salmon are known for returning to their home stream to spawn, leaping out of the water along the way. Although they may seem like the least interesting fish, salmon is actually unique in that many species spend part of their lives in freshwater and another part in the saltwater of the open ocean. They have to eat in every situation, so what does salmon eat?
Take a journey through the life of a common, nondescript fish and learn how salmon survive in harsh conditions and the role humans play in their lives.
What Foods Does Salmon Eat?
eat salmon insects, amphibians, and fish. They are strictly carnivorous creatures that feed on others whether they live in fresh or salt water. However, the salmon’s diet varies considerably depending on where it lives and the age it has reached.
Being opportunistic hunters, the foods salmon commonly eat include:
These foods include those that salmon eat in freshwater as well as in the ocean.
In general, salmon spend the first part of their lives in freshwater, where they grow up in streams and rivers. Salmon return to these places to spawn years later when they reach maturity. In the meantime, salmon move into the ocean if they are not of the landlocked species.
In freshwater, salmon usually eat the insects listed, such as mayflies and tube damselfly larvae. As adults, they are bigger and more capable hunters, and other food becomes available to them in the ocean. They feed on other fish, crustaceans and even mollusks.
The primary saltwater food pursued by salmon is shrimp; some 95% of their prey are shrimp in pure numbers. However, that only accounts for 30% of their food weight, while fish, especially lantern fish and pearlsides, make up 66% of their weight.
Salmons are very capable hunters, capturing their prey both on the surface and in the depths of the ocean. Their incredible sense of smell helps them spot potential prey and is used to guide them back to the original stream from which they emerged at the end of their life cycle.
Once they’ve tracked down their prey, a salmon’s quick attacks and bites help them overwhelm their prey and secure their food.
What does salmon eat in captivity?
Salmon is one of the most farmed and caught fish in the world. The process of salmon farming and harvesting is called aquaculture and has increased more than tenfold in the last four decades, leaving the naturally caught fish with a margin of 2.3 million tons.
Salmon farms consist of hatcheries and sea cages, the latter being pens made of wire mesh that are over 30 feet wide and 30 feet deep. These farms are set up in natural water systems to provide salmon with an easily manageable living situation. Still, the captive salmon are fed by the farm operators, in addition to eating naturally occurring foods such as zooplankton.
In salmon farming operations, the most common food served to the growing fish is dry pellets popularly referred to as “salmon pellets”. They contain a variety of ingredients based on the company that supplied them, but common ingredients include:
- Vegetable and plant material
- cereals
- fish meal
- Vitamins
- minerals
- Amino acids
These pellets are fed to the salmon at regular intervals to stimulate their growth and prepare them for harvest. Once they have reached the right size, they are usually transported in wet-well vessels directly to the processing plant, reducing processing time and keeping the meat fresh.
How much does salmon eat?
Salmon is believed to be about 50 grams of food every day when they are 60 centimeters long or more. That’s not a lot of food, especially when you consider that salmon regularly weighs more than 10 kilos.
Farmed salmon require less food because they spend less energy searching for their next meal. Unlike salmon that swim in the ocean and have to find and eat another creature, their meals are regularly scheduled. The amount of pellets salmon eat in captivity varies, but they usually grow about a pound for every 1.2 pounds of the food they consume.
Salmons returning to their spawning grounds stop feeding as soon as they enter freshwater. That means they need a significant amount of stored energy for their journey back to where they were released, a time called the salmon run.
During the salmon flight, the fish returns to where it started its life, rarely if at all. Once the fish reproduce successfully, the vast majority of them begin to deteriorate and die. They put all their energy into that last act and thus ensure the future for the next generation. A few survive, and some even make the journey back to sea.
What predators prey on salmon?
Salmon, which does not have many protective measures, often fall prey to other creatures. Their agile swimming and infrared vision can keep them away in some cases, but not always. Among their predators are mainly humans, who catch salmon in fresh and salt water or breed them for food. Millions of salmon are harvested and killed in this wa
y
every year.
Humans are not the only cause of death for salmon. Consider this list of salmon predators:
These are all common salmon predators, catching them in fresh or salt water, often at inopportune times, such as when jumping out of the water to travel or clean their scales.
Salmon is quite a unique fish. They are one of the most successfully farmed fish in the world, and their ability to return to their original spawning grounds is miraculous to watch.
Because they live in such different areas all their lives, salmon encounter a lot of food. Salmon eat a variety of creatures throughout its life, including insects, other fish, shrimp, and even a single mollusk. Still, a large proportion of salmon live off the salmon pellets and remain in fish farms for their entire lives.
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