salmon (I silent), salmon, salmond, saumoun

[O. Fr. saumon, saulmon (Fr. saumon), prob. lit. a leaper, from salio to leap; Span.sal. mon; Ital. salmone.] from Lat. salmonem, acc us. of salmo a salmon; Ichthy.: The genus Salmo (q. v.), and especially Salmo salar, the most important of anadromous food-fishes, on account of its abundance and its rich, delicious flavor. Range, temperate Europe southward to 43° N. lat., excepting rivers falling into the Mediterranean; in America its southern boundary is 41° N. lat. It is an extremely beautiful fish, very symmetrical, and its form is admirably adapted to rapid motion, even against powerful currents. It is distinguished from all other species of the genus by the form of the opercular bones, which show a rounded outline to the posterior edge of the gill-covers, the longest diameter of which to the nose would be in a line through the eye. salmon-berry, s. Bot.: Rubus spectabilis.