Sea-run Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) are bright and silvery, with a bluish-green dorsal area shading to white below. In freshwater, they turn dark gray to reddish brown. Adult Atlantic salmon average 30 inches in length and typically weigh 7 to 12 pounds. Their latin name means "the leaper," as they are able to leap up to 12 feet over obstacles, if conditions are right. Juvenile salmon, residents in freshwater streams in the basin, look so similar to trout that the species are often confused. Coloration and size can be identical. Juvenile salmon have a shorter mouth and a more forked tail than trout, but often these features can be distinguished only upon careful inspection. Atlantic salmon account for over 95 percent of the ocean-farmed salmon produced, with most of them raised in ocean-farms on the Pacific coast of Canada and Chile. Atlantic salmon have high farm survival rates, which can be contributed to the efficient way they convert food to body weight, and their ability to adapt to farming techniques. Atlantic salmon can grow to a very large size and the biggest, which have reached up to around 70lbs (32kg), are usually caught in Norway and Russia.
