smolt
/sməʊlt
/noun
A young salmon (or trout) after the parr stage, when it becomes silvery and migrates to the sea for the first time.Perhaps only 50 reach the ocean as smolts - young salmon that have taken on the characteristic silvery color - about two years later....
- During our 1996 investigations, we found evidence of predation on a salmon smolt by striped bass, and we utilized available ultrasonic tags to monitor the movements of striped bass.
- While in freshwater, Chinook Salmon fry and smolts feed on plankton and then terrestrial and aquatic insects, amphipods and crustaceans.
Origin
Late Middle English (originally Scots and northern English): of unknown origin; compare with smelt3.