Interesting facts about salmon

Salmon is an important part of the human diet because it contains a lot of protein, vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids. What else interesting is known about salmon? Here are a few facts.

• A female spring chinook can bear more than 4,000 eggs.
• The oldest salmon fossil found is 50 million years old.
• Salmon does not eat any food at the time when it swims upstream to spawn.
• The longest known journey ever made by a salmon is the way of the chinook salmon, which traveled 3,845 km upstream to spawn.
• When salmon swim upstream, they can jump almost 2 meters up out of the water to overcome rapids.
• Most salmon die as a result of exhaustion after spawning. A small percentage of surviving salmon will probably spawn several more times in their lives.
• Salmon is an extremely valuable fish in terms of taste and useful properties. It is rich in essential vitamins and can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and some types of cancer. Despite the fact that salmon meat may seem fatty, it is an excellent low-calorie product for those on a diet: it quickly quenches hunger.
• Salmon meat is pink due to the fact that it eats a lot of crustaceans whose shells contain this pigment. Salmon color can range from pink to light, close to white.
• In Ireland, salmon is often cooked in dark beer and sauce is made from it.
• The biggest salmon is chinook salmon. This species differs from the usual salmon in size: it occurs up to one and a half meters.
• The smallest salmon is pink salmon (rarely more than 2 kg) and it also tastes the saltiest. Pink salmon, unlike salmon, spends more time in salt water and less in fresh water.