of which there are six well-known species, in the family Salmonidae, all belong to the northern waters of the northern hemisphere. The fish which have been called ‘salmon’ in Australia and S. Africa are not salmon at all.
The most famous salmon is Salmo salar, the Atlantic salmon, whose range extended in times past from Portugal up to Norway and across by Greenland to N. America, probably down to the Hudson River. However, the life-cycle of this fish is such that it has increasingly come up against man-made obstacles in the last two centuries and is now not found at all in some places where it formerly abounded. The modern solution is to farm the fish (see aquaculture), described below.
Every salmon starts life as a tiny blob in the deep gravel of a cold stream where the parent fish deposit their eggs. Out of the eggs come tiny alevins which soon emerge from the gravel and are called fry. As they gain in size, they become parr, a stage which lasts until they make their way down to the sea, undergo various changes designed to fit them for life in salt water, and acquire a new name, smolts.
Some salmon come back to their native rivers to spawn after only one year at sea. They are called grilse. Most, however, spend two to four years at sea, growing into fully adult salmon of 80–100 cm (32–40″) before they make the return journey. Arriving full of food and vigour at their home rivers, they then make what is often an arduous journey up to a suitable gravel bed, and deposit their eggs. They are ‘spent’ by the effort and no longer a valuable prize for anglers; indeed many just die.
It is on this return journey from the sea, as they enter the estuaries and then make their way first upriver and then upstream, that the traditional methods of catching them (nets at the river mouths, rod and line from the river banks) are used. The salmon were not in the past caught at sea because no one knew where they were. Now that they have been ‘found’, for example off the coast of Greenland, they can be caught there, and this has caused controversy. However, the depredations caused by sea fishing are of little importance by comparison with the harm done to salmon by the pollution or blocking of rivers. Similar problems have afflicted, to varying degrees, the five species of Pacific salmon which are listed in the box.
The mechanisms which enable salmon to return to the rivers from which they set out are complex and perhaps not yet fully understood, but amazingly effective. This ‘magic’ feature may help to account for the prominence of salmon in mythology.
Towards the end of the 20th century the ‘farming’ of salmon developed into a big business, with various results, some good and some undesirable. Farmed salmon can be marketed cheaply, and the supply has become so plentiful that there seems to be a risk of repetition of the situation which existed in some places in medieval times, when (to take one well-worn example) apprentices in the north of England stipulated that their free meals should not include salmon more than three times a week. There are also problems of pollution (caused by having huge numbers of fish in a confined space) and problems of quality (fish farmed in inferior operations tend to be fatty and less flavourful, and may have problems with parasites and other health hazards).
Cooking salmon is never a problem. Its firm meaty flesh is suitable for any of the standard methods, including the ancient ‘barbecue’ method of American Indians in the Pacific north-west, who would split a fish open, impale it on strong green twigs and set these at an angle in the ground beside an open fire. Salmon poached in a court bouillon and served cold with mayonnaise and a garnish of cucumber is a traditional treat in Britain.
Salmon also lends itself to various interesting cures. The most widespread is smoked salmon, a product made in many countries but perhaps at its best when prepared in Scotland or Ireland with wild salmon (note, incidentally, that ‘wild smoked salmon’ is an inappropriate description—it should be ‘smoked wild salmon’). See also, for the next most famous example, gravlaks; and see canned foods; smoked foods.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Netboy, Anthony (1968), The Atlantic Salmon: A Vanishing Species?, London: Faber & Faber.
