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

The graph demonstrates how a

salmon

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develops over the course of its lifetime.

Overall

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, the

salmon

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

salmon

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starts its life cycle as one

salmon

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

river

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. 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

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for the fry to swim to the faster-flowing lower

river

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. After remaining in

this

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river

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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

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half decade

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half-decade

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,

this

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fish enters its final form as an adult

salmon

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

river

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