Life-history variability and conservation status of landlocked Atlantic salmon: an overview

Nonanadromous Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) exhibit a combination of variation in life history, habitat, and species co-existence matched by few vertebrates. Distributed in eastern North America and northern Europe, habitat ranges from hundreds of metres of river to Europe’s largest lakes. As juveniles, those with access to a lake usually migrate to feed and grow prior to reproduction. Prey such as smelt (Osmerus mordax, Osmerus eperlanus) and vendace (Coregonus albula) facilitate large body size (50–85 cm at maturity) and persistence in high-diversity (>20 fish species) environments; small-bodied salmon (10–30 cm at maturity), relying on insects as prey, coexist with few (fewer than fi…