The diagrams below show the life cycle of a species of large fish called the salmon.

The graph demonstrates how a

salmon

develops over the course of its lifetime.

Overall

, the

salmon

passes through three different stages of life, taking between nine and ten years to reach its final adult form. In the beginning, the

salmon

starts its life cycle as one

salmon

egg among others. These eggs are deposited beneath some small stones within a patch of reeds in a slow-moving upper

river

. Once an egg hatches about half a year after being laid, it produces a fry, roughly three to eight centimetres long.

The next step is

for the fry to swim to the faster-flowing lower

river

. After remaining in

this

river

for approximately four years, the fry transitions into a 12-15cm long smolt and heads for the open sea. The smolt spends around five years in the open sea. Subsequent to the passing of

this

half decade

Add a hyphen

half-decade

show examples

,

this

fish enters its final form as an adult

salmon

, measuring 70 to 76cm, before returning to the upper

river

to lay its eggs in the reeds and restart the cycle.