The fish that heads to Greenland on holiday

I SEE the salmon fishing season opened on the river Tay this week.

Where do these fabulous and, it must be said, delicious creatures go when they leave Scottish waters? – I.

The Atlantic salmon are anadromous, migratory fish which means they spend part of their life in the ocean but breed and lay their eggs in fresh water.

At each stage of the life cycle of the salmon, distinct changes take place.

In fact it wasn’t until the first part of the 19th Century that it was proven the adult Atlantic salmon was the same species as the striped parr found in the rivers.

The River Tay is consistently one of the top three salmon rivers in Scotland. The Tay drains a very large catchment, and has the greatest flow of all UK rivers.

There is considerable ecological variety in the Tay catchment, resulting in the Tay supporting the full range of salmon life-history types found in Scotland, with adult salmon entering the Tay throughout the year.

Silvery adult wild salmon go to sea to feed, build up their body weight and grow rapidly.

They travel great distances at sea to rich feeding grounds in cold northerly waters feeding on small fish such as sand eels, krill, herring and crustaceans.

Most populations follow lengthy migration routes to waters off south western Greenland, 1,500 miles away, though others head to the Faroe Islands, a couple of hundred miles north of the Scottish mainland.

If you have a question, write to The Queries Man, The Sunday Post, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee, DD4 8SL.

Please do not send stamped addressed envelopes as I cannot give personal replies.