Salmon is the common name for several species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. The term "salmon" comes from the Latin salmo, which in turn might have originated from salire, meaning "to leap". Other fish in the same family include trout, char, grayling, and whitefish. Salmon are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. Typically, salmon are anadromous: they hatch in fresh water, migrate to the ocean, then return to fresh water to reproduce. However, populations of several species are restricted to fresh water throughout their lives. Folklore has it that the fish return to the exact spot where they hatched to spawn. Tracking studies have shown this to be mostly true. A portion of a returning salmon run may stray and spawn in different freshwater systems; the percent of straying depends on the species of salmon. Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) reproduce in northern rivers on both coasts of the Atlantic Ocean. Atlantic Salmon reach a common length of 47 inches, a maximum length of 59 inches, a maximum weight of about 100 lbs, and a maximum age of 13 years. -Copy and pasted from Wikipedia Courtesy of The Bellisseria Oceanographic Institute