Difference Between Sea Trout and Salmon

Sea Trout Vs Salmon

The sea trout, otherwise known as salmo trutta is known as an enigma. From July to November they migrate into seas or river streams just to spawn. The female trouts lay 10,000 eggs more or less. After spawning, they come back to the sea wherein they tend to stay close to the coast (favored areas where fresh water readily enters the open sea).

The Atlantic salmon, aka salmo salar is considered as the ‘king of fish.’ Throughout their life, they step into a journey similar to other fishes. During their youth, they migrate from fresh water streams towards their traditional feeding grounds somewhere in the North Atlantic. They come back again in order for them to spawn. One of the mystifying characteristics among this kind of salmon is their inherent ability to return to the same stream where they were hatched.

Both fishes are migratory in nature with the large sea trout usually being misidentified as a salmon. The difficulty often comes with their comparable sizes.

To distinguish between the two, there’s actually a waterside check that clearly identifies the type of species; taking a scale count (on an oblique line) running from the rear end of the adipose fin towards the lateral line below. The result – a salmon usually has ten to thirteen scales while a sea trout has about thirteen to sixteen.

The trout also has a bigger and noticeably longer mouth compared to the salmon. The rear edge of its mouth stretches a little further from an imaginary line sketched downward from the eye. In the case of the salmon, its eyes and mouth edges are almost in line.

With regard to the tail, the large sea trout can have a seemingly convex tail when opened out. Salmons, on the contrary, have distinctive forked tails.

In general, the sea trout is stouter and broader at the neck of the tail. Most fishermen and fishing enthusiasts claim that the trout often slip through one’s fingers when held by its tail. Salmons are different because they can securely be held.

With their other physical attributes, the salmon is much slender and streamlined while the other looks a bit rounder. The head of the salmon is a little pointed while that of the sea trout is rounder. Lastly, a salmon only has a few spots unlike the heavily spotted trout.
In a waterside test, a salmon’s scale count is about 10 to 13 while the sea trout has 13 to 16.
A sea trout has a larger and longer mouth than a salmon and the former’s tail seems to be convex while that of the latter is somewhat forked.
The sea trout has heavy spotting while the salmon doesn’t.

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