Atlantic Salmon Ecology - 2011

Abstract

both aspects being discussed in detail in the chapter on feeding in fresh water. It is usually assumed that adult salmon do not feed in fresh water. This view is contradicted here and one of the authors of this chapter has published evidence to show that the stomachs of adults contained food of both freshwater and terrestrial origin. Earlier work on the food of salmon at sea was essentially descriptive, but the next chapter shows that improvements in methodology have produced more quantitative information on near-shore feeding and open-ocean feeding of post-smolts, and open-ocean feeding of pre-adults and adult pre-spawners. All this information is summarised in this chapter and shows that Atlantic salmon are opportunistic feeders at sea, utilising a wide range of prey. Salmon exhibit a wide variation in growth and the next chapter