Biology
Growth, Reproduction, and Lifespan Trade-offs in Semelparous Salmon
Quick fact
A female Pacific salmon can lay over 2,000 eggs, but the journey back to fresh water and the enormous reproductive effort come at such a high cost that every adult dies within days of spawning.
Why this is interesting
What drives a salmon to swim hundreds of miles upstream, spawn, and then die within a week—seemingly by its own internal clock?